Pendjari National Park in Benin Republic has best safari in West Africa
If someone says they’re going on a safari holiday, you are likely to assume that the person is going to East or Southern Africa. One, because both regions have the leading safari destinations in the world. Two, the word safari means ‘journey’ and is derived from Swahili, a language spoken very much from the heart of East Africa to the shores of the Indian Ocean, along the famous “Swahili Coast,” all the way down south.
Needless to say, when thinking about a safari destination, you wouldn’t be really considering West Africa as an option. At least I didn’t, until I heard the CEO of GOTA Voyage International, Olanma Ojukwu make her presentation during the 2nd episode of the Wonders of Africa webinar on Friday October 30, 2020.
To be fair, there are a couple of game parks and reserves within the region, but in all honesty, I doubt if anyone comes to West Africa for a safari to spot big game. Speaking with so much gusto, the revelation about the Pendjari National Park by Mrs. Ojukwu, team leader for Bénin République has practically re-oriented many of us safari lovers who were on the platform.
According to the CEO of GOTA Voyage International, Pendjari is home to 60% of lions in West Africa and other big game. The park also has well-trained rangers and staff, equipped for the job. She stated that the transformation of the Pendjari National Park which lies in north western Benin, adjoining the Arli National Park in Burkina Faso is all down to the efforts of the Béninois president, Patrice Talon to who initiated a campaign tagged Revealing Benin to transform the country’s tourism industry.
To achieve this goal, the government of Benin signed a long-term agreement with African Parks, a non-profit conservation organization that takes on direct responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities.
And this partnership is certainly paying dividends.
Here are a few highlights from the African Parks website about Pendjari National Park
- Pendjari is one of the largest remaining strongholds for elephants and West African lions in the region.
- Rangers have been deployed throughout the Pendjari Complex to ensure people and wildlife benefit from the increased stability in the region.
- Approximately 3,200 school children and teachers from 66 benefited from the park’s environmental education programme in 2019.
- In collaboration with the Elephant Crisis Fund and the Lion Recovery Fund, satellite collars have been deployed on elephants and lions in Pendjari to better understand their ecology and movements in the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex.
- We have created a special law enforcement brigade to safeguard the park’s wildlife and build a constituency for conservation with the local communities.
- Together with the Government of Benin, the National Geographic Society and the Wyss Foundation, as well as a number of other partners, we are working to ensure the ecological restoration and protection of Pendjari, to restore and revitalise this globally important park.
For a safari lover like me, who lives in West Africa and has been on game drives and spent nights in safari lodges Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, ‘discovering’ Benin’s Pendjari is probably one of the best things in this COVID-19 era; especially when considering the cost of getting to East or Southern Africa, coupled with the abnormal cost of multiple PCR tests.
Kudos to the government of Benin for their initiative. It is a big plus for West Africa, and special thanks to Mrs. Ojukwu for bringing this wonder of Benin to our attention, because safari lovers like me will be visiting Pendjari soon.
