Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea

Mount Nimba

WHS Score 2.77 Votes 3 Average 3.5

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve comprises montane forests with a high number of endemic plant and animal species.

These species include multiple types of duikers, big cats, civets, and several types of viviparous toads. It also has a population of chimpanzees using stones as tools. The Nature Reserve consists of high-altitude grassland, plains savannah and primary forest including rain forest. Its diversity is supported by the occurrence of a variety of microclimates.

Community Perspective: Iain visited the Guinean part in 1995 and witnessed a landscape with “a number of tumbling sparkling rivers and waterfalls, several natural bridges and possibly the biggest bamboo I've ever seen”.

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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (ID: 155)
Countries
Côte d'Ivoire Guinea
Status
Inscribed 1981 Site history
History of Mount Nimba
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • ix
  • x
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
  • oipr.ci — Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Réserves
News Article
  • Feb. 1, 2008 voanews.com — Environmentalists trying to save chimpanzees at a UNESCO World Heritage protected area in Guinea are facing resistance from villagers who say their needs are being ignored.

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Natural landscape: Forest
  • Archaeological site: Civilizations of Sub-Saharan Africa
Travel Information
Transboundary sites
Recent Connections
View all (26) .
Connections of Mount Nimba
Geography
Trivia
Ecology
  • Over 100 mammal species
    OUV Criterion (x): "107 of which are mammals"
  • Critically endangered fauna species
    Mt Nimba Viviparous Toad

    See www.iucnredlist.org

  • Rainforests
  • Otters
    African clawless otter
  • Strepsirrhini
    Senegal bushbaby, dwarf bushbaby, potto
  • Strict Nature Reserve
    Fully: Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve. ""Tourism is formally prohibited within the strict nature reserves, but occurs on a limited basis and in the Bossou Hills, a Biosphere Reserve Core Area." (UNEP-WCMC + IUCN outlook 2020: "In Guinea, UNDP supports the definition of an ecotourism strategy (2019-2024). The IREB implements a ecotourism program, including visits to the chimpanzees of Bossou as well as excursions to summit of Mount Nimba."
  • Chimpanzee habitat
    The chimps here are known to clap their hands and use tools

    See mahale.main.jp

Damaged
  • Poaching
    the fauna has been the subject of very intense poaching.
World Heritage Process
Human Activity
  • Iron production
    Site of 1 of the largest deposits of high grade iron ore ever discovered. In 1991 the Guinean government removed c 4500ha of the WHS which was wanted for Ore mining from the site boundaries saying it had been included "in error". WHC accepted this in order to preserve the integrity of the remainder. Nearby mining continues and threatens water purity in the WHS. Guinea gets funding partly for foregoing 50 million tons of Ore extraction.
WHS on Other Lists
Timeline
  • Jurassic
    Mount Nimba is part of an ancient mountain range, the Guinean range, which was upthrust between the end of the Jurassic and the end of the Eocene
WHS Names
News
voanews.com 02/01/2008
Environmentalists trying to save c…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.

Community Reviews

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First published: 23/04/20.

Iain Jackson

Mount Nimba

Mount Nimba (Inscribed)

Photo in the Public Domain

I visited this site on Valentine's Day 1995. The weather was warm, sunny though hazy.

I based myself in the nearby town of Lola in Guinea which is about 45kms from the border with Cote d'Ivoire. About 70% of the park lies in Guinea with the rest in Cote d'Ivoire. Mont Nimba and surrounding peaks straddle the border into Liberia as, in the best of possible worlds, would the park. However those areas within Liberia have been ravaged by bauxite mining.

In Lola I stayed at the Savane Hotel and Dancing, no electricity, no hot water, no windows even in the bedrooms.

Perhaps things are better now.

In Lola, it is necessary to obtain, from M. Le Sous-Prefet, a permit to visit the park (easily done) and to hire a guide (hard to avoid) and a vehicle.

I was found by Jeremie Coman, who described himself as Director of a research station in the park and at about 0845 we set off.

We spent the whole day travelling thro' the park and I was able to see the 3 distinct vegetation zones (tropical forest, montane forest and a sort of alpine meadow) which changed as we got higher into the mountains.

I saw a number of tumbling sparkling rivers and waterfalls, several natural bridges and possibly the biggest bamboo I've ever seen.

What I did not see, though I was assured they do exist in the park, were chimpanzees making and using tools, and a type of toad which gestates …

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