The Luo Scientific Reserve () is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

situated in the

Ikela Ikela is a market town in Tshuapa, Democratic Republic of Congo, lying on the Tshuapa River east of Boende. Founded by Belgium in the early twentieth century as a trading post, it became an important local centre. It is the headquarters of the ...

territory of

Tshuapa Tshuapa is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the Subdivisions of the DR Congo#New provinces, 2015 repartitioning. Tshuapa, Équateur Province, Équateur, Mongala, Nord-Ubangi, and Sud-Ubangi provinces are ...

province,

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The reserve covers . The reserve is in the territory of the Bongando people. A Japanese team first started researching the

bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (the other bei ...

population near the village of Wamba in 1973, and the Luo Scientific Reserve was established in 1990. However, research was discontinued after political disorders started in 1991 followed by civil war in 1997, resuming only in the mid-2000s.

References

Tshuapa Protected areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Protected areas established in 2001 {{Africa-protected-area-stub