This province, containing thousands of square kilometres of rainforest, is the largest and most sparsely populated and much less developed than the rest of the country.

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza similarly made excursion to the region in November 1875 and between 1879 and 1882.

The province spans part of the centre to the northeast of Gabon, covering an area of 46,075 square kilometres (17,790 sq mi).

Lopé National Park, also in the southwest of the province, covering an area of 5,360 square kilometres (2,070 sq mi), lies to the north of the Chaillu Mountains and east of the Mingoué River.

The Station D'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes, co-managed by the CIRMF and CWS, is a monitoring facility at Lopé.

In the eastern part of the province is Mwagna National Park, which contains dense rainforest and is virtually uninhabited by humans but is biologically rich.