Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park Is Bringing Its Wildlife Back
Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal holds the last wild African wild dogs in West Africa. The park, which covers close to one million hectares of forest, savannah, river and wetland along the Gambia River, is also home to lions and critically endangered western chimpanzees, along with Derby elands, the largest antelope in the world, plus leopards and elephants.
After years of poaching and habitat loss, the park was taken off UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 2024. In June 2026, the Global Environment Facility approved $1.26 million USD to push the recovery further.
Signs of Recovery
In 2024, Senegal's Directorate of National Parks, Panthera and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) placed more than 400 camera traps across the park. Teams walked nearly 2,000 km to do it, in one of the largest wildlife surveys ever carried out in an African protected area.
Camera surveys show positive trends for buffalo, roan antelope, hartebeest, lions and wild dogs. IUCN's 2025 World Heritage Outlook improved the park's rating from "critical" to "significant concern." However, poaching, invasive plants, fire, mining and farming still threaten it.
Wild Dogs and Chimpanzees
A ZSL project funded by IUCN's Save Our Species programme is studying the wild dogs through camera traps and DNA from droppings, and possibly tracking using GPS. The results will shape Senegal's national action plan for the species.
Western chimpanzees have been critically endangered since 2016. Teams counted 178 chimpanzee nests in the park in 2024, with about 40 known adults. A ZSL project removes snares, builds veterinary capacity to deal with rabies and snare injuries, and helps local people find other sources of income.
People at the Centre
The new GEF project aims to restore 3,000 hectares of damaged land and improve management across 913,000 hectares of protected areas, directly benefiting about 2,000 people, 1,500 of them women.
A wider EU-funded programme led by IUCN covers the 30,000 km² landscape around the park, across Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. The programme aims to improve the livelihoods of around 250,000 people, recognising that wildlife recovery is more sustainable when neighbouring communities benefit too.
SOURCE
