MONT HOYO

Although officially located in Ituri province, the Mont Hoyo Integral Reserve (6,000 hectares) was accessed from the town of Beni by taking the road to Kisangani (115 km) and then a short 13 km stretch of road heading east through the forest. The site remains closed to the public. The Mount Hoyo site should therefore be open to visitors again, but when? It's a small rocky massif made up of different variants of sandstone, dolomite and shale, which includes a large number of caves and which the Walese natives refer to as "homa". Hence the name Mount Homa. The first caves were discovered and studied in 1943 by the geological engineer Ruscart. To date, 26 main caves have been uncovered, but a number remain unexplored. This is a major site with the potential to be a major tourist attraction. As is the nearby forest, home to some remarkable specimen trees and numerous deep-set streams whose courses are interspersed with impressive waterfalls (the famous Escalier de Vénus) and underground passages. The flagship animal species is the okapi, whose survival in this ecosystem is under threat.