History

Africa’s Eden was born from the vision of our founder, Rombout Swanborn, who spent part of his childhood in Gabon’s Gamba region. Returning years later, he saw that West Central Africa remained one of the last relatively untouched places on Earth – and recognised the urgent need to conserve it for future generations. The aim of Operation Loango, founded in 2001, was to develop low-impact tourism and conservation in Gabon through the concept of ‘tourism pays for conservation’. The project offered small groups of tourists the opportunity to intimately experience the unique, diverse and intact ecosystems in and around Loango National Park. What began as a pilot project grew into a pioneering model of conservation tourism across West-Central Africa. Loango National Park, one of the 13 national parks created in 2002, has been doing well till date thanks to the efforts of SCD (Société de Conservation et Développement) and its parent company, Africa’s Eden.

Continued growth

In 2007, the pilot project was wrapped up successfully and its activities formalised into three divisions: Africa’s Eden, Africa’s Connection (regional aviation to support tourism development) and the Société de Conservation et Développement (research, park management and educational activities). Operation Loango evolved from a modest project to develop low-impact tourism and conservation in Gabon to a full service company (Africa’s Eden) offering fly-in Lodge-accommodation, whale observation, a primate research station, a gorilla orphanage and impressive bush camps. The name Operation Loango remained used only for research activities in Loango National park.