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Gabon's Wild Plan

The African nation of Gabon has been called one of the last wild places on Earth. This month, Gabon's President, El Hadj Omar Bongo, announced a plan to protect his country's diverse wildlife. More than 10,000 square miles of land will be set aside to create 13 new national parks.

Three-quarters of Gabon is covered by rain forests, most of which are still undisturbed by civilization. But logging and hunting had threatened to destroy the forests and their wildlife. The parks will provide homes for buffaloes, hippos, chimpanzees and forest elephants. Parks along Gabon's coast will protect whales and sea turtles.

Bongo decided on the plan after a scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society finished a 2,000-mile trek across the Congo Basin Forest. The president was reportedly inspired by photos of animals from the expedition.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Gabon and praised the plan. "It will be an example to the rest of the world," he said.

While there, Powell took a walking tour of an elephant trail in the Congo Basin. Powell is the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Gabon. "My trip here was all too short," he said later. "But I promised I would return."

Bongo says he hopes others will visit Gabon "in search of the last natural wonder on Earth."

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