Why this ride
It goes by way of Salonga National Park, Parc national de la Salonga Nord and back through Salonga National Park. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Parc national de la Salonga Sud and Parc national de la Salonga Nord
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 3223 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 55 h 36
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Parc national de la Salonga Sud
Where the northern block of Salonga is wet and tangled, the southern block feels like the farther side of the moon. It lies roughly a degree south of the equator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the great bowl of the Congo basin, and it is part of the same World Heritage reserve, which at thirty-six thousand square kilometres is the biggest protected tropical rainforest in Africa. A corridor of land between the two halves is home to people who farm, fish and hunt, and their villages are the only human mark on the map.
Read the complete Parc national de la Salonga Sud write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Parc national de la Salonga Sud is where the day begins. Next is Salonga National Park.
2. Salonga National Park
Salonga is a place you read about rather than ride to, so let us be honest from the start. It is the largest tropical rainforest national park in Africa, a block of lowland forest in the central basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bigger than Belgium, split into a northern and a southern sector with a corridor of villages between them. UNESCO listed it in 1984, and since 1999 it has also been on the list of sites in danger, because of poaching, conflict and the sheer difficulty of guarding something so large.
Read the complete Salonga National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Salonga National Park comes up about 529 km into the recorded legs. Next is Parc national de la Salonga Nord.
3. Parc national de la Salonga Nord
Salonga is the largest tropical rainforest reserve in Africa, covering about thirty-six thousand square kilometres of the Congo basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in two big blocks separated by a corridor of villages and farmland. UNESCO listed the park in 1984, and it has spent years on the list of World Heritage in Danger.
Read the complete Parc national de la Salonga Nord write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 1612 km into the recorded legs you reach Parc national de la Salonga Nord. Next is back through Salonga National Park.
4. back through Salonga National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Salonga National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Salonga National Park, late in the day. Next is Parc national de la Salonga Sud.
5. Parc national de la Salonga Sud
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Parc national de la Salonga Sud write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Parc national de la Salonga Sud. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Parc national de la Salonga Sud to Salonga National Park
Parc national de la Salonga Sud → Salonga National Park is 529 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Salonga National Park to Parc national de la Salonga Nord
Salonga National Park → Parc national de la Salonga Nord is 1083 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Parc national de la Salonga Nord to back through Salonga National Park
Parc national de la Salonga Nord → back through Salonga National Park is 1083 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Salonga National Park to Parc national de la Salonga Sud
back through Salonga National Park → Parc national de la Salonga Sud is 529 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.