W-Arly-Pendjari Complex

I visited Pendjari National Park during my 2-week Benin itinerary. I stayed for 1 night in the luxury lodge inside the park. This way I could do an afternoon safari and an early morning safari.

It’s the only park in West Africa now that is suitable for a great game safari. The park is located about 50-60 kilometers north of Natitingou and borders Burkina Faso. It’s inscribed as a transborder UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Arly National Park (Burkina Faso) and W National Park (Niger) as the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex. Its total area is 2755 square kilometers and is home to a lot of wildlife.

Don’t expect the big five but it is home to the West African lion, elephants, hippos, 12 species of antelopes, some smaller game, and an abundance of birds for which the park is most famous. If you’re lucky you can also spot cheetah and leopard but just a dozen are left in the whole park though

I was able to spot most of the animals but no elephants (and no cheetah or leopard). The herds were too close to the Burkina Faso border and at the time of visit the park rangers didn’t allow to go there due to the area not being safe.

Normally I try to visit transborder nomination at least 1 location in each country. I'm not sure if I want to visit the parts in Bukrina Faso and Niger. I'm not sure if this adds anything rather …

From Niamey, it was a few hour drive through pastoral countryside to Parc National du W. Unlike parks in East and Southern Africa, wildlife was widely scattered and difficult to see through the thick bush, but I found several antelopes (roan, oribi and western hartebeest were new for me), elephants, African buffalo and crocodiles. I stayed at Hôtel de la Tapoa, just outside the park entrance (it had a pool, cold water and good food, so more than I expected).

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 …

West Africa is not the right place to see animals. In most of the West African parks you can see practically nothing but the landscape. This was the case in Mole National Park of Ghana, where the most interesting animals we have seen were ants - forming a long strip on a lakeshore. Park W is much more difficult to reach than Mole, but as a reward, you can see some wildlife. Not comparable with the great East African parks, but at least there you can say, you were not sitting in a 4wd for days in vane. Because getting to the park is definitely not easy. First somehow you have to get to Niger -that can be a challenge itself. We tried to apply for a visa in Berlin, but were refused, so applied again in Accra where some "extra processing fee" helped us to get the visa of our dreams. Niamey is not a major transport hub, so finding a flight there is either difficult or very pricey. And that is also the case with onland transport, you either charter a 4wd, where prices reach the stars in the sky, or try to find a place in a bush taxi, what is exhaustingly slow, hot, and incomfortable. We chatered a 4wd for our round trip in West Africa, but the company refused to cross the Niger border with us. So our driver helped us in Malanville, the Benin side of the border to charter a bush taxi for …