Dja

Protected since 1950 and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1981, the Dja Reserve owes much of its exceptional state of preservation to its geography: the River Dja loops almost the whole way around it, forming a natural boundary that has long made both permanent settlement and large-scale logging difficult, and leaving close to 90% of its area as virtually untouched primary forest. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and is the ancestral land of the Baka people, pygmy hunter-gatherers who still make traditional, sustainable use of the forest's resources within the reserve's boundaries.