Woleu-Ntem: Culture and Landscape

Woleu-Ntem can be explored through different travel-related points of interest: Mont Koum et Salem in the destination’s immediate surroundings, and the cultural discoveries made by the 2026 tourist caravan in Oyem and Bitam. This brings together a landscape feature and encounters with named places, dated to a particular period, alongside cassava discovered in Bitam.

Mont Koum et Salem: Location and Summit Cross

Mont Koum et Salem is 30 km from Oyem, on the road to Bitam. A large cross stands at its summit. Three details help locate it: Oyem is the reference point for the distance, the road indicates the direction to Bitam, and the cross marks the summit. Together, they form a distinct landscape feature connected to two place names.

2026 Caravan: Oyem and Bitam

The third edition of the Caravane touristique du pays took place from July 17 to September 6, 2026, in Grand Nord, referred to as the province of Woleu-Ntem. During the caravan, participants discovered the Grotte mariale on their visit to Oyem. In Oyem, they also visited a place affectionately known as « La Principauté de Monaco ».

At the 2026 caravan’s cultural highlight in Bitam, participants discovered and appreciated the Agnizok cassava. This connection adds a culinary perspective to the visits in Oyem: alongside named places, a particular food also takes center stage in the Bitam experience.

Gabon: Landscape, Culture and Nature Observation

As a broader travel destination, Gabon provides a distinct setting for landscape, nature and cultural themes. The Lopé-Okanda landscape in Gabon preserves evidence of the biological development of a rainforest-savanna transition zone that has persisted to the present day over the last 15,000 years. This long-term perspective differs from the dated caravan in Woleu-Ntem: one concerns the development of a persistent landscape zone, the other an event in 2026.

Ivindo National Park covers almost 300,000 hectares and is crossed by blackwater rivers. Rapids and waterfalls are bordered by intact rainforest. The area figure conveys the scale of the park; its waterways and forest define the landscape’s distinctive features.

The Lopé National Park Ecomuseum displays prehistoric finds from the park and cultural objects representative of local communities. Visitors can therefore see both finds from prehistoric times and objects connected to local communities.

Loango National Park offers opportunities for birdwatching, with the chance to look for species from forests and the Congo Basin. It is also possible to look for habituated western lowland gorillas. The activities differ in their focus: bird species from forests and the Congo Basin on the one hand, and the search for habituated western lowland gorillas on the other.

Discover more destinations: Woleu, Estuary, Ogooué-Maritime, Haut-Ogooue

Go to the broader travel overview: Gabon.