Okapi Wildlife Reserve

Okapi Wildlife Reserve
Photo in the Public Domain.

The Okapi Wildlife Reserve protects a rainforest that is home to about 5,000 of the estimated 30,000 okapi (forest giraffes) surviving in the wild.

The reserve lies in the Congo Basin and covers part of the Ituri rainforest. It has numerous species that are absent from surrounding areas. This includes endemic and threatened species of primates and birds, such as large numbers of chimpanzees and forest elephants.

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Site Info

Full Name
Okapi Wildlife Reserve
Unesco ID
718
Country
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Inscribed
1996 - In Danger
Type
Natural
Criteria
10
Categories
Wildlife habitat - Fauna
Link
By ID

Site History

2007 Reinforced Monitoring

1997 In Danger

impact of the war and civil conflicts in the Great Lakes region

1996 Inscribed

1995 Referred

Bureau - Fulfils Natural criteria but cultural values etc of indigenous pygmies not taken into account. Needs Management plan etc

Site Links

Unesco Website
Okapi Wildlife Reserve
Official Website

Okapi Conservation Projec

Related

The struggle to save the ‘Congolese unicorn’

In the News

Deforestation intensifies in northern DRC protected areas (2021.06.03)

Gunmen attack Congo wildlife reserve, U.S. journalist, three guards missing (2017.07.16)

UNESCO Director-General condemns the murder of a guard at Okapi Wildlife Reserve (2015.11.20)

Elusive okapi classified as 'Endangered' (2013.12.01)

Okapi WHS loses 37% of elephants in 5 years (2013.03.04)

Guards killed at Okapi Wildlife Reserve on 24 June (2012.06.26)

Locations

The site has 1 locations

Okapi Wildlife Reserve

Connections

The site has

Damaged
Poaching: Forest elephants are under intense pressure from ivory poachers. Many players are involved including uncontrolled elements of the Congolese army (FARDC) and armed militia. Hunting for the commercial bushmeat trade is also intense, and has increased significantly since the rehabilitation of the national road RN4 was completed in 2008
Ecology
Rainforests
Elephants: African elephant (forest elephant)
Inselbergs: "The inselbergs of the region are a unique habitat which harbor an endemic flora"
Strepsirrhini: dwarf bushbaby, potto
High-Biodiversity Wilderness Area: Congo Basin
Chimpanzee habitat
Bovines: Forest buffalo
Swamps and Marshes: "combined with swamp forests that grow alongside the waterways" (OUV)
Refugium: "As a Pleistocene refugium, the forest contains dense evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, dominated by Mbau trees (Gilbertiodendron dewevrei). The Nepoko, Ituri, and Epulu rivers flow through the reserve, surrounded by swamp forests. The granite outcrops in the north of the reserve protect critical habitat for Encephalartos ituriensis, a threatened species of cycad. Because of its relatively stable climate during the repeated ice ages, the wildlife reserve, and the Ituri Forest as a whole, protects a unique biological community." (Wiki)
Geography
Congo River Basin
Human Activity
Natural sites with indigenous human population: "The reserve is inhabited by traditional nomadic pygmy Mbuti and Efe hunters"
Pygmy Peoples: Some 4000 people live inside the reserve, mostly Mbuti pygmies." and " although not a factor in the criteria for natural sites, the OFR is of special interest for its cultural values as it is inhabited by traditional nomadic pygmy Mbuti and Efe hunters" (AB).
Timeline
Pliocene: "The end of the Pliocene epoch (2.5-6 million years ago) saw a number of long necked giraffids evolve, but largely unsuccessfully with only 2 surving to this day"
Trivia
Total Solar Eclipse since Inscription: 3 November, 2013
Visiting conditions
One thousand visitors or fewer: DD : “The Reserve has a small guest house which receives a small but steady flow of visitors. The rehabilitated RN4 highway improved access for tourism.” (IUCN Outlook 2020)
WHS Names
Protection of a single named species: Okapi: "Okapi Wildlife Reserve contains flora of outstanding diversity and provides refuge to numerous endemic and threatened species, including one-sixth of the existing Okapi population." (OUV)
WHS on Other Lists
World Heritage Forest Programme
IUCN Conservation Outlook Assessment Critical
World Heritage Process
Inscribed on a single criterion only: x. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

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