Côte d'Ivoire

Comoé National Park

WHS Score 1.82 Votes 3 Average 2.33

Comoé National Park centered around the Comoé River has a high diversity of plant and bird life.

The park is one of the largest protected areas in West Africa and covers a transitional zone between the forest and the savanna, with habitats such as fluvial forests and riparian grasslands. It is home to a wide diversity of wildlife, including 500 bird species, three species of crocodiles, plus chimpanzee, African wild dog and elephant.

Community Perspective: “a site only for the very committed wild-life fan (or the WHS completist)”. Iain visited in 1995 and found neither the landscape nor the vegetation particularly attractive. Anthony had a disappointing visit in 2017: he found a shut-down ranger station and swarms of tse tse flies, and the chimps hadn’t been seen in a decade.

>

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Comoé National Park (ID: 227)
Country
Côte d'Ivoire
Status
Inscribed 1983 Site history
History of Comoé National Park
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • ix
  • x
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Jan. 10, 2017 bbc.com — Chimpanzees make drinking sticks at Comoé

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Natural landscape: Diverse ecosystems
  • Religious structure: Christian
Travel Information
One thousand visitors or fewer
One thousand visitors or fewer
“Depuis 2012, les activités touristiques ont repris et le nombre …
Recent Connections
View all (20) .
Connections of Comoé National Park
Ecology
  • Inselbergs
    Contains "rocky inselbergs" (AB ev)
  • Savanna
    " Comoé National Park contains a remarkable variety of habitats, notably savannas, wooded savannas, gallery forests, fluvial forests and riparian grasslands providing an outstanding example of transitional habitats from forest to savanna." (OUV)
  • Crocodiles
    dwarf crocodile
  • Bird Migrations
    The African-Eurasian Flyway
  • Chimpanzee habitat
  • Hippos
    "There are also 21 species of artiodactyl present in the park including hippopotamus" (wiki)

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Elephants
    African elephant
  • Over 100 mammal species
    OUV Crit X: "135 species of mammals"
  • Strepsirrhini
    Senegal bushbaby, potto
Damaged
  • Poaching
    Poaching is still one of the main threats to the values ​​of the site. Some studies estimate the loss of kob and elephant populations at least at about 75-80%, while populations of buffaloes, hartebeest, antelopes, buffalo cobes, hippos and olive baboons have decreased by at least 40 to 50%
World Heritage Process
WHS on Other Lists
Visiting conditions
  • One thousand visitors or fewer
    “Depuis 2012, les activités touristiques ont repris et le nombre de touristes visitant le parc augmente chaque année (149 visiteurs en 2015, 242 en 2016 et 533 en 2017). (IUCN Outlook 2020)
  • Red Zone Travel Advisory
    Northeast of Cote d'Ivoire
WHS Names
News
bbc.com 01/10/2017
Chimpanzees make drinking sticks a…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.

Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 20/04/20.

Iain Jackson

Comoé National Park

Comoé National Park (Inscribed)

Comoé National Park

Comoe is said to be the biggest National Park in West Africa (at least it was when I visited in February 1995) but despite its size I did not find it easy to get to and even more difficult to travel in. I crossed the border from Ghana near Bondoukou and made my way slowly by local transport to Kakpin on the southern boundary of the park where I stayed at le campement.

Any hopes I might have had about informative tours of the park led by well informed Rangers were soon dashed but eventually I did join an expat Frenchman in his 4x4 for a quick whizz round some of the southern parts of the park.

In truth neither the landscape nor the vegetation was particularly attractive and in general, it seems, parks in West Africa do not compare well with those in East Africa as far as the number and diversity of wildlife is concerned.

I saw no lions, giraffes or elephants but there were warthogs, hippos, antelope, monkeys and birds with black and white hornbills prominent amongst them. The scenery was mostly scrubby trees and termite mounds though there were stretches of forest along the Comoe river.

I do not know if conditions in the park deteriorated further after I was there or if what I saw was already bad enough for it to be put on the WHS In Danger list.

I think it is probably a site only for the very committed wild-life fan (or …

Keep reading 0 comments
First published: 07/02/17.

Anonymous

Comoé National Park

Comoé National Park (Inscribed)

Comoé National Park

In January 2017, I decided to visit several sites in West Africa. Two things to consider are safety and travel hardship. Cote d'ivoire has both issues.

In March of 2016, terrorist from Mali killed 18 people on the beach in Grand Bassam. This incident has damaged tourism to the country and when we had our lunch on the beach in Grand Bassam, I noticed that the hotels were very empty, which may be a good thing as not to attract another incident. Also two days before our arrival in Abidjan, the army of the country decided to mutiny and block all the roads because they have not been paid their promised bonus since the civil war ended in 2011. Fortunately a deal was negotiated and the army returned to their barracks. Nonetheless the situation is always fragile.

Secondly, travel in West Africa is hard. Most of the roads are very bad with huge pot holes or incredibly bad if dirt roads. It makes for travel long and very uncomfortable. The hotels out of the major cities are rudimentary and some do not have water or electricity. Travel by public transport is only if you can tolerate a lot of hardship and have a lot of time.

I decided to hire my own car and driver and even that was an ordeal.

So after 10 hours of rough ride from Yamoussoukro to Kong and dirt road to Comoe, we checked into the best accommodation near the park, Kafolo Safari Lodge on …

Keep reading 0 comments