Qualla: Pendjari National Park

Pendjari National Park: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonas Van de Voorde, CC BY-SA 3.0. Somewhere between five and thirteen Northwest African cheetahs survive in the grasslands and open woodland of northwestern Benin. That number -- recorded in a 2007 survey -- represents one of the last viable populations of the subspecies on earth. The cheetahs share this landscape with roughly 100 West African lions, herds of more than 800 elephants, and the endangered West African wild dog, a canid so rare that a confirmed sighting during a 2000 survey was treated as a significant scientific event. Pendjari National Park is not merely a nature reserve. It is a last stand.

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Image: Jonas Van de Voorde | CC BY-SA 3.0

Pendjari National Park: Where Three Countries Meet

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wegmann, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pendjari covers 2,755 square kilometers of northwestern Benin, its western boundary running along the Pendjari River, which also marks the border with Burkina Faso. The park is part of the WAP Complex -- W, Arli, and Pendjari -- a transboundary protected area spanning Benin, Burk...

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Image: Wegmann | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pendjari National Park: The Big Mammals' Last Redoubt

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fawaz.tairou, CC BY-SA 3.0. The numbers tell a story of concentration by necessity. Between 2005 and 2010, Pendjari's elephant population held steady at more than 800 individuals. Across the entire WAP Complex, the count exceeded 3,800 -- the largest elephant concentration in all of western Africa. Hippopot...

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Image: Fawaz.tairou | CC BY-SA 3.0

Pendjari National Park: Predators on the Edge

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pendjari's predator community reads like a roster of West Africa's most endangered carnivores. The lion population in the WAP Complex numbered about 100 individuals by 2009, possibly the largest remaining population in the region. African leopards patrol the forest margins. Spott...

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Image: Ji-Elle | CC BY-SA 4.0

Pendjari National Park: Three Hundred Kinds of Wings

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Farid AMADOU BAHLEMAN, CC BY-SA 4.0. Above the drama of the large mammals, Pendjari sustains an extraordinary avian community. Some 300 bird species have been recorded, including large, conspicuous residents like the African openbill stork, Abdim's stork, and the saddle-billed stork. Seasonal flocks of up to 60 Euro...

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Image: Farid AMADOU BAHLEMAN | CC BY-SA 4.0