Qualla: Oti-Keran National Park

Oti-Keran National Park: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ubkoumbogny, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photographs still exist of elephant herds moving through the savanna of Oti-Keran National Park in northern Togo. In the 1980s, a South African company had invested in a hotel, roads, and observation platforms, and the park was generating monthly revenues of 50 to 60 million CFA francs -- roughly $100,000 to $120,000 -- making it a regional model for protected-area ecotourism. Then, in 1990, political turmoil swept Togo, and decades of resentment against the park erupted in a wave of destruction that left the wildlife dead and the infrastructure in ruins. Today, those photographs are all that remain of what Oti-Keran once was.

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Image: Ubkoumbogny | CC BY-SA 4.0

Oti-Keran National Park: A Park Built Without Consent

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, CC BY-SA 2.0. The origins of Oti-Keran's collapse reach back to the 1960s, when the Togolese government began expanding a network of nature reserves across the country's north. The expansion was carried out without the consent or participation of the people who lived on the land. Communities w...

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Image: Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM | CC BY-SA 2.0

Oti-Keran National Park: The Reckoning of 1990

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, CC BY-SA 2.0. When political instability shook Togo in 1990, that resentment found its outlet. Communities that had been excluded from the park's benefits turned on the protected areas with fury. Wildlife was slaughtered en masse. The infrastructure -- hotels, roads, viewing platforms -- was d...

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Image: Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM | CC BY-SA 2.0

Oti-Keran National Park: Wings Over the Savanna

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, CC BY-SA 2.0. What survived the destruction was the birds. BirdLife International has designated Oti-Keran as an Important Bird Area, recognizing its significant populations across some 214 recorded species. Black crowned cranes stalk the grasslands. Goliath herons and pink-backed pelicans wor...

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Image: Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM | CC BY-SA 2.0

Oti-Keran National Park: A Corridor Taking Shape

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, CC BY-SA 2.0. Oti-Keran's future may depend on connections beyond its own borders. The park is planned as part of a transboundary conservation corridor linking through Oti-Mandouri National Park to the WAP Complex -- the vast W, Arli, and Pendjari protected-area system spanning Burkina Faso, B...

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Image: Damien Halleux Radermecker from BRUSSELS, BELGIUM | CC BY-SA 2.0