Bwindi Impenetrable national park (along with Sarambwe Nature Reserve across the border in the DRC) is one of only 2 protected areas where mountain gorillas live. There are only around 1000 mountain gorillas left (though this is a great improvement as just 40 years ago there was only thought to be 400) split between here and the Virunga ecosystem.
These two great ecosystems lie only a few tens of kilometres apart, however, as this land is not mountainous or forested as far as the gorillas are concerned it may as well be the other side of the world.
Other than the mountain gorillas, there are a wide range of other primates including the black and white colobus monkeys, the L’hoest’s monkeys, baboons, chimpanzees, De Brazza monkeys, Red tailed monkeys, the blue monkey, Potto, Demidoff’s Galago and Spectacled Galago. These range from easy to see, to unlikely to see in a long visit.
The park supports Elephants, Bush Pigs, Giant Forest Hog, Black-fronted Duiker , Yellow-backed Duiker, Clawless Otter, Side-stripped Jackal, Civet, ,eopards, Sitatunga (the wetland-dwelling antelopes) and numerous other species, especially of bats and rodents.
As you can see, while mountain gorilla encounters usually take a long trek, on rare occasions the gorillas will come to the guests
Mgahinga Gorilla National park, part of the Virunga ecosystem
Were this reserve on its own, I would consider it an ecosystem in grave danger. This reserve only covers 33.7 square km, 13 square miles. So why is it not in this category?
Mgahinga Gorilla national park is part of the Virunga ecosystem, and is a transfrontier park which includes
All this is to say, that while Mgahinga gorilla is an important national park, it is a small part of this transfrontier protected area.
While Chimpanzees are not present in this part of the ecosystem there is a long list of fascinating animals that are.
1 habituated mountain gorilla group live within this area, so gorilla trekking is possible (permit required and should be booked long before travel), as well as 2 non-habituated groups – if you chance on non-habituated gorillas in the forest, they are likely to leave fast.
Golden monkeys are the other regularly seen primate. They are only present in this ecoystem
Blue monkeys are also occasionally seen
Forest elephants (a little over 100, it is thought, but throughout the whole ecosystem)
in 2020 580 Bush elephants migrated from another park into the greater transfrontier park, given the small are of this section they are rare visitors
Most of the rest are several varieties of rodents, bats and small predators
In a dense forest there is likely to be few drivable routes, as such there are walking paths through the forests. While Gorilla trekking is the most famous activity, walking to see the many other wildlife species can also be an exhilarating experience.
This park looks quite alien, over millennia the plateau was eroded to create an area of flat areas, alongside peaks separated by dramatic stepp-sided gorges, running down to broad valleys and grasslands. Ras Dejen is the 4th highest peak in Africa, and is fully contained within the park. This is high enough to regularly have snow.
Beautiful views and plenty of places to look out for wildlife from
Mammals found include Olive baboon, Hamadryas baboon*, Vervet monkey, Colobus monkey, Gelada*, Rock hyrax, Menelik’s bushbuck*, Klipspringer, Grey duiker, Walia ibex*, Golden (common) jackal, Ethiopian wolf*,Spotted hyena, Serval, Leopard. Those animals with a * are those found nowhere else.
River Gambia Niokolokoba National Park Credit: United states Government
A fascination reserve with a wide range of wildlife, this is a place well worth a visit. With a variety of habitats, the range of wildlife that can be seen is not usually available in one reserve anywhere else.
The national park is known for its wildlife. The government of Senegal estimates the park contains 20 species of amphibians, 60 species of fish, 38 species of reptiles (of which four are tortoises). There are some 80 mammal species. These included (as of 2005) an estimated 11000 buffaloes, 6000 hippopotamuses, 400 western giant eland, 50 elephants, 120 lions, 150 chimpanzees (It is inhabited by a banded forest in the park (Lower Rim) and Mount Assirik. (north-western limit line where chimps are distributed.)), 3000 waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), 2000 common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), an unknown number of red colobus (Colobus badius rufomitratus) and a few rare African leopards and West African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus manguensis), although this canid was thought to be wiped out throughout the rest of the country.[4]
Other mammals include roan antelope, Guinea baboon, green monkey, patas monkey, warthog.
Around 330 species of birds have been sighted in the park, notably the Arabian bustard, black crowned crane, Abyssinian ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus), martial eagle, bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus), and white-faced duck (Dendrocygna viduata).
There are also reptiles such as three species of crocodiles, four species of tortoises
Lake Chad is a lake which has varied dramatically over the last few decades. Fifty years ago it was the fourth largest lake in Africa. At that time, it covered 9650 square miles (25,000 square km), however this area has declined a great deal. Currently it is around 386 square miles (1000 square km).
This is a map of the lake Chad, along with the protected areas
Importantly, as well as being essential for the wildlife in the area, 10 million people also rely on the lake for their water.
Two Biosphere Reserves are currently established in the Lake Chad Basin: Waza (Cameroon) and Bamingui Bangoran (Central African Republic) as well as two World Heritage sites: Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park (Central African Republic) and Lakes of Ounianga (Chad) protect the wildlife of the area.
There large mammals—such as elephants, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, warthogs, giraffes, antelopes, lions, leopards, and cheetahs—coexist with a wide assortment of birds and reptiles. The rivers and the lake are among the richest in fish of all African waters.
Waza national park: One of the parks in the Lake Chad Basin, lies in Cameroon. Situated on the edge of the Sahel it protects 1700 square km, or 700 square miles. The area protected by this reserve includes of both a forested area and a huge expanse of grasslands and seasonal marshes.
30 species of mammal live within the park. There is a small population of west-African lions (these are far rare than the lions elsewhere, and have recently been shown to be the same sub-species as the Asiatic lion. There are several estimates of how many lions are left, it could be as low as 14 or as high as 40 depending – though as this population numbers between 250 and 500 in total, we are talking about10-20% of the population being here. The lion population has suffered from poaching, but the number of guards has been increased which will hopefully give these lions a chance to recover. More importantly, were these lions allowed to recover, it could become a stronghold of the animal. Kob number over 5000 in the reserve, while warthog and Eland are also present. Ostrich have been recorded though rarely seen, Elephants congregate at Mare aux Elephants – which is a famous watering hole. Hartebeest, Tsessebe, Olive baboon, Patas and Vervet monkey, Leopard, Cheetah and nocturnal Aardvark.
There are 379 species of birds which have been recorded in the park.
Threats include a dam on the main river that feeds the park, which has lead to often not enough water. Help from outside has allowed an increase in the number of guards, though it is still requiring one guard per 25 square miles – which is hard when the guards are heavily outnumbered by the poachers.
Consisting of W national park in Niger, Arli National Park in Burkina Faso and Pendjari National Park in Benin, this trans-frontier national park is incredible important.
So what makes this place important?
Watch this short video to see many of the wildlife of this essential transboundary national park
About 90% of the west African lion population live here (remember that genetic differences are so minor, west African and central African lions are essentially the same subspecies – and have been shown to belong the the Asiatic lion sub-species. Asiatic and African lions have been shown to be the same species. This place consists of 3 national parks and about 14 hunting blocks. With a population that is numbered between 250 and 450 adult members, the total size of this lion population is not dissimilar to the Gir forest in India.
85% of this regions elephants also live within the reserve.
Leopards live within the reserve, along with cheetah and west African Manatee.
70 species of mammals have been recorded including in the complex including 10 species of antelope; four of Africa’s “Big Five” charismatic fauna: Lion Vulnerable to extinction, Elephant also vulnerable to extinction, Buffalo least concern and Leopard Vulnerable to extinction; and three species of primates. The WAP Complex is also home to 460 bird species, 80 reptiles and 120 fish species and has a notable insect diversity. 110 species of mammals were reported in some meetings, but mission confirmed more precisely that 77 species of large mammals are found inside the Complex it is likely that this ignores some bats and other small mammals.
There are western African Giraffe in the area, and given only 600 of this species lives in the wild it is likely to be a significant proportion of the wild population.
Although it is hard to find an accurate estimate for the number of cheetah in the reserve, it is thought to be the only remaining long term viable population – there are only about 250 mature Saharan (west African) cheetah living in the wild. As such even a population of just 50 would be significant.
I hope to be able to add as many links as possible to make travel to this area easier to arrange. Do fill in the forms from the front page of the website, should you wish to list your wild opportunity in this area.
The red sea coast heads south from the Suez canal for about 500 miles. There is a range of places which are good for diving
Hurghada underwater gardens: until recently largely unknown, it is now a place which people come from all over the world to see the underwater world either with snorkels or diving.
Sites of merit include
• Dolphin house: A pinnacle with a half moon coral. Covered with table corals and giant fans and home to several dolphin families
• Small Giftun (within Giftun Island national park) is a fantastic playground for experienced divers. Caves, canyons, steep walls, black coral, white tip sharks, Barracuda, and whale sharks
If you work along this coast, do fill in the form to add your location
This mountain range is long, and while it has some brief breaks, it continues for 1500 miles along the Nothern coast of Africa, from Morroco, through Algeria to Tunisia.
Barbary Macaque
This area was once an incredibly wild area, and while only some of the former animals which lived here still survive, there is great efforts going into returning the missing ones back to the wild, either from captive descendants, or from closely related species.
Animals that still survive, include, Barbary Macaques (8000-10,000 but declining), Barbary Stag
Barbary leopards (in 1996 it was estimated that only 5 remained, it is unlikely that any are left), Barbary stag (not extinct, still found in quite a few places, but hard to get accurate estimates on numbers), Barbary sheep (listed as endangered, there are thought to be between 5000-10,000 remaining in the wild), Atlas mountain badger, Cuvier’s gazelle (thought to number no more than 2000 spread widely in the Atlas mountains) Northern bald Ibis (over 1000 live in zoos, but in the wild almost all of the 500 wild birds live in Morocco, at Souss-Massa National Park), Algerian nuthatch (thought to have a wild population of under 1000), dippers (the only species if Dipper in Africa) and Atlas mountain viper (this species is only near threatened, making it the safest species on this list).
There are a variety of species that are extinct:
Barbary lions: (the north African lion was a popular species to hunt, there is thought to be around 100 in zoos around the world – probably not pure Barbary but as close as possible. There are vague plans to reintroduce them, but it remains to be seen if that can happen)
Atlas bear: (last one reportedly shot in 1870, it does not appear that they did well in captivity, whether a closely related bear might fill the evolutionary niche is questionable)
North African Elephant: closely related to the living African elephant species, it is therefore possible that a population could be re-established in this region. Proper genetic analysis is necessary, in order to work out which living species is the closes relation.
Scimitar horned Oryx: It is thought that the numbers fell both because over-hunting and climate change making their hard life harder. There are 1800 left in the world but most of these are in captivity. A small population has been reintroduced in Chad, it should be possible to return them to the Atlas mountains without too much effort.
Bubal Hartebeest: extinction date was officially declared in 1994, though it is thought to have been extinct in some regions since 1920, though it is thought the last Algerian specimen was killed between 1945 and 1954. There are a variety of living species which could fill in the ecological niche and behave in the same way (Liechtenstein or red hartebeest).
This is an Antarctic island sanctuary lying about 2000km east of Tierra del Fuego in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is an island which is 170 km long (just over 100 miles long) The surrounding rocks and islets provide shelter for a range of wildlife, from birds to marine mammals, that inhabit this area. The water around the island are incredibly cold, with icebergs regularly seen in its waters.
The largest penguin colonies on earth are found here, with around 400,000 breeding pairs of King penguins, and over 2 million pairs of the smaller Macaroni penguins. Other smaller colonies of Gentoo (100,000 pairs) and chinstrap (6000 pairs) breed here in smaller numbers. Below is a documentary about the penguins on this island.
Iguazu falls, and the twin national parks of Iguazú National Parks in Argentina and Iguaçu national park across the border in Brazil
The Iguazu falls lie at the centre of a pair of twin national parks. Between Iguaçu national park which covers 1853 square km and Iguazú National Park which covers 677 square km.
Made up of the largest waterfall system in the world. Along with other protected areas, they protect over 2000 species of plants, 400 species of bird and as much as 80 species of mammals.
The area consists of subtropical forests, and is populated by a wide range of wildlife. Some of the most well-known include the giant anteater, the harpy eagle, and a whole group of South American wildcats: the jaguar, puma, ocelot t, margay, and even the geoffroy’s cat. Other species include the South American karate, black capuchin monkeys, toucans and a range of others..
