We visited Pendjari NP back in Jan 2007 during a tour of Benin, Togo and B Faso. It was interesting to experience a West African “wildlife park” but our conclusions were very similar to those of the previous reviewer! The real interest in W Africa lies in its cultures and peoples and, apart from the bird life, one would not particularly recommend it as a wildlife destination in comparison with many others across Africa.

Mind you - we didn’t give it a great deal of time. We drove up in the morning from Boukambe at the edge of the Koutammakou area and arrived at the much hyped Tanougou Falls for lunch. My experience across many years is that dry countries tend to make too much of such “watery” locations which, elsewhere, would pass without much notice. I have seen the falls described as “a beautiful multi-tiered cascade that flows from the Atacora Mountains. They are the highest and most beautiful falls in Benin, attracting more tourists every year as they become better known.” A bit OTT – but they make a pleasant stop. Whether these lie just outside or just inside the park is not clear but there was a stone stating - “Pendjari - Man and Biosphere Reserve 16 Jun 1986”.

We then passed the official park entrance and made an afternoon game run taking in grassland, river, marsh and light/heavy forest. There was a lake with a few hippos in it (but very unexciting compared with for instance Kazinga Channel in Uganda) and we saw some distant buffalo – which we presumed had to be of the Sudanese sub species (Syncerus caffer brachyceros) and are therefore different from any you might have previously seen in South or East Africa. Indeed if you are a great “chaser” after subspecies (or even “races”) of African animals then you will see some specialities in Pendjari – particularly of Bovidae! Another is the Roan antelope subspecies “Koba” - (Hippotragus Equinus Koba) whose current range only extends from Senegal to Benin. See very distant photo - this is the sort of view you are likely to get of many of the animals you will see in Pendjari - noting the “diagnostic” ears! A third is a subspecies of Bohor Reedbuck (Redunca Redunca Redunca) which I believe to be the subject of the photo I have provided above to introduce this NP! (“R. r. redunca lacks dark stripes on its forelegs. The males have thicker necks. Its large, oval-shaped ears distinguish it from other antelopes” - Wiki!). The Bohor reedbuck can be seen in Central Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia but the subspecies Redunca is limited to Senegal - Togo.

If such niceties are not of great interest then you could always hope to see Lion or Cheetah - but our impression was that you would have to be very lucky to do so! We did see some very distant Elephant but, when you have seen such creatures in Kenya or Botswana etc, it is difficult to work up much enthusiasm for such views.

We spent the night in the “Hotel Pendjari”. It is nicely situated within the park – a little bit of luxury for us as, otherwise, we largely “wild camped” on this trip! Not bad rooms and even air con when the generators were operating, but this is not East Africa and the place was clearly suffering from underinvestment - our group were the only guests. We had another game run the next morning before leaving for Burkina Faso. But my diary and memory indicates that nothing more of note was seen.