Loango National Park is a unique national park which is located in the western part of the Gabonese Republic.

What makes this park so much interesting for everyone is that includes diverse coastal habitat within which is also the Iguéla Lagoon making it the only significant example of a typical western African lagoon system that is protected within a national park.

Being one of the most amazing places in Africa where it is still possible to experience the rhythms of equatorial Africa in its most primitive state, as it once was.

The entire national park is comprised of savannah, pristine beach, forest and mangroves that also incorporates a high percentage of water across the whole area.

Declared at first as a regional fauna reserve in 1956, it was established as Loango National Park in 2002, and this 1,550 square km (600 square mi) area is nearly devoid of people, motivating visitors who are coming here in small numbers in order to be the witnesses of this rare and exotic tropical gem from Gabon.

Holding one of the highest densities of wildlife in the world, there are plenty varieties of species which can be seen here, such as the forest elephants, red forest buffaloes, hippos, chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas, duikers, leopards, crocodiles, western lowland gorillas, in addition to the impressive marine life like the world’s largest concentration of humpback whales and dolphins after South Africa.

Even though most of the exploration of Loango can be done by boat, on foot or from a vehicle, there are the locals who are able to be the guides of all those adventurous enthusiasts who would like to get a glimpse of the still untouched nature.

The best time to visit the park is in December and January where most the wildlife can be seen, while between February and April is the wet season which is followed with torrential downpours.

During the dry season, which is between May and September, the air is still humid and quite warm, making it more difficult for people to move around.

All in all, there are not that many people who are coming to the small African republic, and even though the visitors can be counted in the low hundreds, Loango National Park shall definitely become one of the most interesting, if not most intriguing parks on the entire continent.

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi continued to erupt Friday, forcing authorities to halt tourism and mining activities on the slopes of the country’s most active volcano.

The volcano on the densely populated island of Java unleashed clouds of hot ash shortly before midnight Wednesday into early morning Thursday and fast-moving pyroclastic flows — a mixture of rock, lava and gas — traveled up to 5 kilometers down its slopes.

It was Mount Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised its danger level in November 2020, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.

Dozens of light eruptions continued during the day Thursday with a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 2.5km down its slopes.

No casualties were reported. About 253 people were evacuated to temporary shelters but they returned to the volcano’s fertile slopes after the activity subsided, Humaida said.

Authorities have closed at least five tourism attractions located within the danger zone of 5km from the crater and halted mining activities along the volcano’s rivers, Humaida said. Activities out of the danger zone remained open.

Mount Merapi is the most active of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds recently.