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 an unpaved runway.
National park
Niokolo-Koba was created as a reserve in 1925. It became a national park in Senegal on January 1, 1954. The park was expanded in 1969. It was named a World Heritage Site in 1981 and recognized as a UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve. In 2007, the park was added to the UNESCO List of Endangered World Heritage Sites. It was taken off the list in 2024 after better conservation efforts improved its condition. Since 2005, the area has been recognized as a Lion Conservation Unit.
Geography
The park is located in a highland area where the upper part of the Gambia River flows, near the northwestern border of Guinea. The biosphere park covers about 9,130 square kilometers, forming a long, curved shape that extends from Upper Casamance/Kolda Region near the Guinea-Bissau border to the Tambacounda Region, reaching about 100 kilometers from the Guinean border near the southeast corner of Senegal. The elevation in the area ranges from 16 meters to 311 meters.
Flora
The park is mostly covered with woodland savannah and partly dry forest, along with large areas of wooded and seasonal wetlands. The park has more than 1,500 plant species and holds 78% of Senegal's gallery forest.
Many trees and shrubs are covered in thick vegetation along riverbanks, and this vegetation changes based on the land and soil type. In valleys and plains, large areas have Vetiveria and grassy savannah. Thick grasslands usually have Paspalum arbiculare and Echinochloa. There are also areas where bamboo grows.
In valleys and narrow forest areas, the plants show the climate of southern Guinea, and many tropical climbing plants are common.
Semiaquatic plants live near rivers, and yearly plants vanish when water levels rise. Along pond edges, dry forests and grassy savannas grow based on how wet the soil is or how compact it is. Sometimes, dense Mimosa pigra bushes grow in the center of wetlands.
Fauna
The national park is famous for its wildlife. Senegal's government estimates that the park has 20 types of amphibians, 60 types of fish, and 38 types of reptiles (including four types of tortoises). There are also about 80 types of mammals. 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 species was believed to be extinct elsewhere in the country.
Other mammals include roan antelope, Guinea baboon, green monkey, patas monkey, and warthog.
Around 330 types of birds have been seen in the park, including 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.