Monkoto

Monkoto is a small town on the Luilaka River in Tshuapa Province, about 100 km south of Boende, nestled in the forest corridor between Salonga National Park's two main protected blocks. It serves as the administrative headquarters and primary reception/entrance gateway for Salonga National Park — Africa's largest protected tropical rainforest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site jointly managed since 2016 by the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and WWF. The park and its Monkoto headquarters are accessible only by boat, reflecting the area's near-total lack of road access. As with the rest of Tshuapa Province, the wider local economy rests on subsistence agriculture, fishing, and small-scale trade, and the climate is tropical, hot and humid year-round with a wetter and drier season.

By Boat

Monkoto, on the Luilaka River, is accessible only by boat — there is no road access to the town or to Salonga National Park's headquarters here.

Walking is the typical way to get around the small town itself.

Monkoto's role as the entrance gateway and headquarters of Salonga National Park is its defining feature — visitors pass through here to register and continue into the park's protected forest, home to bonobos and forest elephants.

Registering at the park headquarters and arranging a guided visit into Salonga National Park is the main reason travelers pass through Monkoto.

Salonga National Park's protected forest blocks are the destination beyond Monkoto; Boende, the provincial capital, is about 100 km north.