Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea
Mount Nimba
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”.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (ID: 155)
- Countries
- Côte d'Ivoire Guinea
- Status
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Inscribed 1981
Site history
History of Mount Nimba
- WHS Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- ix
- x
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.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
Recent Connections
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Over 100 mammal species
OUV Criterion (x): "107 of which are ma… -
Centres of Plant Diversity
Af4 Mt Nimba - "More than 2,000 species… -
Extended
1982: Extended to Ivory Coast
Connections of Mount Nimba
- Geography
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Territorial Highest points
Mt Nimba (Mont Richard Molard) 1752m/5748 ft. Cote d'Ivoire/Guinea
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- Trivia
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Swan songs
Guinea 1981 (ext 1982)
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- Ecology
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Over 100 mammal species
OUV Criterion (x): "107 of which are mammals" -
Critically endangered fauna species
Mt Nimba Viviparous Toad -
Rainforests
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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 toolsSee mahale.main.jp
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- Damaged
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Poaching
the fauna has been the subject of very intense poaching.
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- World Heritage Process
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Transboundary sites
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Extensions on Tentative List
Paysage culturel des monts Nimba and Mount Nimba Strict Reserve (extension) - Liberia -
Potential Transboundary sites
Libéria : Mount Nimba Strict Reserve (extension) -
First inscriptions
Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea 1984 -
Transboundary only
Guinea -
Country gained extra WHS by an extension
Originally only Guinea; 1982 Cote d'Ivoire -
Extended
1982: Extended to Ivory Coast
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- Human Activity
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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.
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- WHS on Other Lists
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IUCN Conservation Outlook Assessment Critical
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Centres of Plant Diversity
Af4 Mt Nimba - "More than 2,000 species of vascular plants, including several endemic or quasi-endemic plants have been recorded." -
Biodiversity hotspot
Guinean Forests of West Africa -
Alliance for Zero Extinction
Arthroleptis crusculum, Hyperolius nimbae, Nimbaphrynoides liberiensis, Hipposideros lamottei (Lamotte's Roundleaf Bat) -
World Biosphere Reserves
Part of Mont Nimba (1980) -
World Heritage Forest Programme
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- Timeline
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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
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- WHS Names
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Named after a Mountain
Mt Nimba 1760m
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News
- voanews.com 02/01/2008
- Environmentalists trying to save c…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
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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