The Niokolo-Koba National Park (French: Parc National du Niokolo Koba, PNNK) is a World Heritage Site and protected natural area located in southeastern Senegal, close to the border with Guinea. The park is connected to Niokolo-Koba Airport, which is a small airport with an unpaved airstrip.
National park
Niokolo-Koba was created as a reserve in 1925. It became a Senegalese national park on January 1, 1954. In 1969, the area was made larger. It was named a UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve in 1981. In 2007, the park was added to the UNESCO List of Endangered World Heritage sites. It was taken off the list in 2024 after improvements in how well the park is protected. Since 2005, the area has been recognized as a Lion Conservation Unit.
Geography
The park is located in an upland area where the upper part of the Gambia River flows toward the northwestern border of Guinea. The biosphere park covers about 9,130 square kilometers and stretches in an arc from Upper Casamance/Kolda Region near the Guinea-Bissau border into the Tambacounda Region, reaching within 100 kilometers of the Guinean border near the southeast corner of Senegal. The land rises from 16 meters to 311 meters in elevation.
Flora
The park is mostly covered with woodland savannah and partly dry forest, along with large areas of wooded and seasonal wetlands. It is home to more than 1,500 plant species and holds 78% of Senegal’s gallery forest.
Many trees and shrubs have thick plant growth along riverbanks, and this growth changes based on the land and soil type. In valleys and flat areas, large sections are covered with Vetiveria and grassy savannah. Overgrown grasslands often include Paspalum arbiculare and Echinochloa. Some areas also have bamboo growing.
In valleys and narrow forest strips, the plant species match the climate of southern Guinea, and tropical climbing plants are common.
Water-dependent plants live near rivers, and yearly plants disappear when water levels rise. Near ponds, dry forests and grassy savannah grow depending on how wet the soil is or how tightly packed it is. Sometimes, dense bushes called Mimosa pigra grow in the middle of wetland areas.
Fauna
The national park is famous for its variety of wildlife. Senegal's government estimates the park has 20 types of amphibians, 60 types of fish, and 38 types of reptiles, including four types of tortoises. The park is also home to about 80 mammal species. These include, as of 2005, an estimated 11,000 buffalo, 6,000 hippos, 400 western giant eland, 50 elephants, 120 lions, 150 chimpanzees, 3,000 waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), 2,000 common duikers (Sylvicapra grimmia), an unknown number of Western red colobus (Piliocolobus badius), and a few rare African leopards and West African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus manguensis), although this animal was thought to be extinct elsewhere in the country.
Other mammals in the park include roan antelope, Guinea baboon, green monkey, patas monkey, and warthog.
Around 330 bird species have been seen in the park. These include the Arabian bustard, black crowned crane, Abyssinian ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus), martial eagle, bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus), and white-faced duck (Dendrocygna viduata).
The park also has reptiles such as three types of crocodile and four types of tortoise.