1000 Francs Okapia Johnstoni

The okapi remained unknown to Western science until 1901, when British explorer P.L. Sclater formally described the species from skins obtained in the Congo — an animal so improbable that early reports were dismissed as native legend. The Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale issued this piece under the authority of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, a body governing six member states whose collective wildlife coinage program of the late 1990s leaned heavily on charismatic megafauna with strong European collector appeal.