This Site within the Ivindo National Park is a wide plain with valleys, rivers, waterfalls, rapids and marshes which are representative of Gabon, as well as dense, humid Guinean-Congolian forests and flooded, swampy riparian forests. It is an important reservoir of wildlife, with threatened species including the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni), antelopes such as the bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) and Ogilby’s duiker (Cephalophus ogilbyi), and the dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis) and slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus). Three out of five endemic waterbirds found in Cameroon and Gabon, such as Batis minima, have been recorded. Several populations of fish (including Nannocharax and Labeo species, Atopochilus savorgnani and Doumea typica) have adapted to the specific conditions caused by the heavy currents. The wide variety of plant species includes velvet tamarind (Dialium guineense), Nigerian satinwood (Distemonanthus benthamianus) and African greenheart (Piptadeniastrum africanum). The Site is used as a source of food and non-food wetland products, by local communities and also the inhabitants of the urban centres of Makokou, Booué and Ovan; this has led to over-exploitation of the forest resources, over-fishing, and pollution from the towns and from iron-ore mining activities at Belinga. The art and sculpture of the area are of cultural and ritual importance, and neolithic remains and stone-age tools dating back between 60,000 and 120,000 years have been discovered.