Pendjari National Park


Pendjari National Park lies in north-western Benin, adjoining the Arli National Park in Burkina Faso. Named for the Pendjari River, the national park is known for its wildlife and is home to some of the last populations of big game like the African forest elephant, lion, hippopotamus, African buffalo, and various antelopes in West Africa. The park is also famous for its richness in birds.
The park covers an area of and is part of the WAP Complex, a large protected area in Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. Hills and cliffs in the Atakora range are visible from the park.
In March 2009, the park was tentatively nominated for UNESCO's World Heritage Site program, and in July 2017, it was officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a transnational extension of the WAP Complex.
WWW pendjari.net/en

Ecology

The rocky cliffs of the area are sparsely wooded with Burkea africana, Detarium microcarpum, Lannea acida, Sterculia setigera and Combretum ghasalense. On the deep soils of some of the summits and the Atakora escarpment, there is a greater variety of plant species with Isoberlinia doka and Afzelia africana. The Pendjari River is surrounded by forest. The park includes both the Sudanian and Guinean savannas, with areas of grassland dominated by Acacia sieberiana and Mitragyna inermis or Terminalia macroptera. The annual rainfall is approximately. The park is open year-round, although from June to November, rainfall can be heavy, and certain parts of the park may be inaccessible.

Fauna and flora

Mammals

Pendjari National Park has a relatively large population of elephants, which was stable over the last decades and counted more than 800 individuals between 2005 and 2010. The WAP Complex's elephant population is more than 3,800, making it the largest elephant concentration in all of western Africa.
The second largest species of the park is the hippopotamus. There are also large populations of several other large herbivores like African buffalo, western hartebeests, roan antelope, kob antelope, and warthogs. Some other antelope species like korrigum, bushbuck, and reedbuck are relatively rare. Smaller bovids are the red-flanked duiker, oribi, and common duiker. Primates are represented by the olive baboon, patas monkey, and tantalus monkey.
One of the rarest large predators in the protected area is the Northwest African cheetah. As of 2007, there were only about 5–13 individuals left in the national park and neighboring W National Park.
By 2009, the lion population in the WAP Complex comprised about 100 animals and was possibly the largest in West Africa at the time.
The endangered West African wild dog was recorded in Pendjari National Park during a survey in April 2000, as well as African leopard, spotted hyena, side-striped jackal, and African civet.
The number of waterbucks decreased from about 3,000 in the 1970s to 120 in 2004.

Birds

The hooded vulture is resident in the protected area, but in small numbers.
The park is renowned for its abundance of bird species.
Some 300 different species are present. Pallid harrier and lesser kestrel are occasionally recorded and there are a few isolated records for lappet-faced vulture. Fox kestrel is not uncommon, while the African swallow-tailed kite is a not uncommon dry season visitor. The booted eagle has also been recorded here. BirdLife notes that "the Pendjari is notable for large conspicuous species such as African openbill stork, Abdim's stork, saddle-billed stork, and seasonally, flocks of up to 60 European white storks. The African fish eagle and Pel's fishing-owl can also be found.
Among the more notable species recorded are pied-winged swallow, white-crowned robin-chat, Botta's wheatear, familiar chat, white-fronted black-chat, mocking cliff-chat, common rock thrush, Senegal eremomela, blackcap babbler, red-winged pytilia, black-rumped waxbill, bush petronia and Togo paradise-whydah.
Grey tit-flycatcher has been recorded as well as several other species of the undergrowth. White-throated greenbul has been recorded at Tanguiéta and the white-throated francolin, a rare resident, has been spotted in farmland south of Natitingou. South of the park there is a large semi-protected zone known in French as La zone cygnetique de la Pendjari where a number of other species have been spotted. The national park and the bird habitat is protected by the government in Benin.
Other bird species include: