The protected area, which is part of the Sangha River Tri-National Protected Area (STN) is drained mainly by the Sangha River, a tributary of the Congo River. Part of the forest is still inaccessible and remains unexplored. It is a swampy tropical forest in lowlands that are part of the Congo River drainage basin. This park, along with the other two reserved parks within the larger Sangha Reserve, is secluded from all economic activity involving roads and human interference, which has resulted in its maintenance as a pristine rain forest. The park lies within the forest area of Congo which forms 11% of the total area of the country. It has been further demarcated into protected areas, cleared areas known as Bai and Yanga, two seasonal zones for use by nomadic people, hunting areas reserved for employees, protected zones that act as prey zones for hunting, hunting zones for local community, and sacred sites.

Plans to establish the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park were initiated in 1991 by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Government of Congo with support from USAID as a transboundary collaborative project. It also involved a progression of interaction with local, regional and national authorities. It was finally established in September 1993 covering an area of 392,169 ha (969,070 acres) between the North-eastern Sangha Department and the north-western Likouala Department of Congo. In 1999, the timber company CIB (Congolaise Industrielle du Bois) and the local community joined hands with WCS and the Government of Congo to create an entity that would minimise the negative impacts of logging on the national park. In 2001, the park area was extended with part of a neighbouring logging concession known as the Gouloago triangle getting annexed to this park. The German logging firm surrendered its rights over 100 km (39 sq mi) of the Goualougo Triangle under its lease hold to be merged with the national park, and also resolved to ban hunting. While logging operations (particularly of two species of the African Mahogony for high-grade timber) have taken place in many forest regions in the northern Congo to a limited scale, this park has been free of any such operations. This has resulted in the fact that it has been beneficial to effective preservation and growth of population of the wild life and natural habitat of the forests in the park.

When someday comes you'll need to get in.

When someday comes you'll need to be able to get around.