70-Year-Old Takes On Africa's Largest Rainforest Park

After nearly five decades protecting Africa's wildest places, Luis Arranz decided retirement could wait when he saw Salonga National Park.

At 70, the Spanish conservationist took over as co-director of Africa's largest tropical rainforest park in 2022. Salonga spans 36,000 square kilometers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, larger than Belgium and home to bonobos, forest elephants, and countless other species found nowhere else on Earth.

"I like impossible missions," Arranz told Mongabay during a recent park visit. And Salonga might be his most impossible yet.

Unlike famous parks that attract tourists and headlines, Salonga remains largely unknown and unreachable. From the capital Kinshasa, the journey by boat takes several weeks. Many areas are only accessible by river or air.

But remoteness isn't the real challenge. About 800,000 people live around the park, and for many, hunting remains one of the few sources of income and food.

"We cannot tell people not to hunt without offering alternatives," Arranz said. "They must eat, like you and me. So we must propose other solutions."

His solution? Agriculture like cacao and coffee farming, combined with gradual ecotourism development. It's ambitious for a park with no regular tourist visits yet, but Arranz already has an airstrip built with help from local communities, a lodge in development, and bonobo habituation work underway.

He envisions something even bigger: linking Salonga with other conservation landscapes across the Congo Basin. Tourists could see gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and mountain gorillas in one trip, something possible nowhere else in the world.

Arranz also sees potential in domestic tourism from Kinshasa's nearly 20 million residents. "People in Kinshasa have the means and are looking for things to do on weekends," he said. "You leave Saturday, return Monday. See the river, the bonobos. I'm sure people will come."

Why This Inspires

Arranz's entire career has been about choosing the hardest path. He's worked in parks plagued by armed militias, helped revive tourism in Central Africa's remotest corners, and never once taken over a park that was already running smoothly.

"I have never taken over parks that were already working well," he said. "I have always accepted difficult missions."

After managing both Dzanga-Sangha and Salonga for two years, he now focuses entirely on Salonga. His approach is practical: start small, prove it works, then expand gradually.

"I am not here to be remembered," Arranz said. "In every park where I have worked, I tried to leave it in better condition. I have experience, and I want to use it to improve Salonga."

In a region where conservation unfolds over decades, Arranz remains determined to show that protecting wildlife and supporting communities aren't opposing goals but two parts of the same mission.