Garamba National Park

Garamba National Park
Photo in the Public Domain.

Garamba National Park comprises an area of savannah, marshland and forests that is the habitat of the world’s four largest land mammals.

The vegetation is especially suited for great herbivores such as elephants (both forest elephants and bush elephants), giraffes, hippopotamus and rhinoceros. The park aimed to protect the last known wild population of northern white rhinoceros. By 2016 it had lost all of its northern white rhinos (the species has become extinct in the wild), 95% of its elephants, most of its Kordofan giraffe and an estimated 80-90% of other large mammals

Community Perspective: Barbara reports on fieldwork she did at Garamba in the 1990s.

1 Locations 1 Reviews 0 Ratings 25 Connections 2 Visitors In Danger

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Barbara Boudreau

USA - 03-Dec-05 -

I did the field work portion of my Master's degree at Garamba in 1993 and 1995. Then, in December 1995, my husband and I got married at the Hippo Pool on the Dungu River right outside the park. We have wonderful memories from Garamba, and I understand now that the wildlife there is in grave danger and poaching has become rampant and constant. There were still lots of animals left when we were there, around 11,000 elephants and 35 rhinoceros. Now the number of elephants is down to around one thousand. Very sad, but the reality of a political system like the Congo's.

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Site Info

Full Name
Garamba National Park
Unesco ID
136
Country
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Inscribed
1980 - In Danger
Type
Natural
Criteria
7 10
Categories
Wildlife habitat - Fauna
Link
By ID

Site History

2007 Reinforced Monitoring

1996 In Danger

impact of the war and civil conflicts in the Great Lakes region.

1992 Removed from Danger list

1984 In Danger

very critical situation of the white rhinoceros population, now estimated to total less than 15 specimens

1980 Inscribed

Site Links

Unesco Website
Garamba National Park
Official Website

African Parks: Garamba

Related

Mammalwatching in Garamba National Park

In the News

Three park rangers killed after shootout with elephant poachers (2016.04.27)

Extinction looms for rare Congolese giraffes in Garamba NP (2016.01.20)

Poachers Kill 4 in Anti-Poaching Patrol in Garamba (2015.10.11)

Chinese affluence fuels ivory poaching at Garamba (2012.10.03)

Garamba NP: 22 Elephants Massacred in Helicopter Attack (2012.04.25)

Garamba National Park attacked by rebels, leaving 8 dead and 13 wounded (2009.01.08)

Locations

The site has 1 locations

Garamba National Park

Connections

The site has

Damaged
Poaching: Illegal commercial hunting over the past 45 years has resulted in significant declines of all wildlife populations in the site. At least 2,000 elephants were killed illegally between 2007 and 2012
Rangers killed by poachers
Ecology
Rhino habitat: Northern white rhinoceros
Chimpanzee habitat
Otters: two species of otter
Elephants: African elephant ("representing an intermediary form between the forest and savannah subspecies")
Strepsirrhini: dwarf bushbaby, potto
High-Biodiversity Wilderness Area: Congo Basin
Inselbergs: “plateau … broken by inselbergs” AB ev
Lions: Crit X: In addition to the rhinoceros and the giraffe, the purely savannicole species include the lion
Bovines: A very large population of African buffalo also display intermediary forms between the forest buffalo ... and the savannah buffalo. (OUV)
Swamps and Marshes: "Covering vast grass savannas and woodlands interspersed with gallery forests and marshland depressions," (OUV)
Hippos: "Garamba National Park contains the four largest land mammals in the world, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the giraffe and the hippopotamus." (OUV)
Geography
On National Border: On South Sudan border
Congo River Basin
Human Activity
Papyrus: papyrus swamps
African Parks Network: Since 2005
Timeline
Early Pleistocene: "The transition from the equatorial forest to northern latitude savannas was most probably gradual throughout the early Pleistocene"
Visiting conditions
One thousand visitors or fewer: DD : “In 2017, a new tourist lodge was completed and efforts to promote tourism are ongoing. Occasional international groups do visit the park but the current climate of insecurity is a major constraint. However an important local market (>1000 expatriates working for a nearby industrial gold mining complex) is being tapped”
WHS Names
Named after a River: "The main rivers are the Dungu on the southern boundary, the Aka along the western boundary and the Garamba within the Park"
WHS on Other Lists
IUCN Conservation Outlook Assessment Critical
WWF Global 200: Terrestrial, Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands: (89) Sudanian Savannas
Centres of Plant Diversity: Af49 Garamaba National Park - "a dense network of small permanent springs that support an exceptionally high plant productivity and herbivore biomass"
World Heritage Process
Twice on the endangered list: 1984 and 1996
Former In Danger List sites: 1984 - 1992

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