Photo of the Day 3

Loango National Park, Gabon, 2003
Photograph by Michael Nichols

An aerial photograph of a Gabonese delta highlights the rich wilderness of the Loango coastal area. Just a century ago, this land was the northern outpost of the Loango Kingdom, whose throne was near the Congo River some 250 miles (402 kilometers) to the south.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Gabon's Loango National Park: In the Land of the Surfing Hippos," August 2004, National Geographic magazine)