Dja Faunal Reserve

The Dja Faunal Reserve lies in south-eastern Cameroon, some 243 kilometres south-east of Yaoundé, and protects 5,260 km² of Congo rainforest. Its history of protection began in 1932; it was formalised in 1950 as a faunal and hunting reserve and in 1973 became a faunal reserve. UNESCO designated it a biosphere reserve in 1981, covering 526,000 hectares, and inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 1987 under criteria (ix) and (x).

Its most singular geographical feature is its natural protection: the Dja river encircles roughly 80% of its perimeter and forms a barrier that has made access from the main road, to the south, difficult. Thanks to that, the reserve has never been logged, and at the time of inscription 90% of its area was considered intact.

It is one of the largest and most biologically diverse stretches of protected rainforest in central Africa. More than 1,200 plant species have been recorded, along with 107 mammals, 429 birds and 60 fish, including the western lowland gorilla, the chimpanzee and seven other diurnal primate species, and it is one of the best places in the world to see the picathartes, an extraordinary bird that nests on granite outcrops. The reserve is also home to Baka people, hunter-gatherers whose traditional way of life gives the site a recognised cultural value: farming and commercial hunting are prohibited, but they are permitted to hunt in the traditional way.