Comoé National Park: A UNESCO World Heritage Site of Savannah and Rivers

If Taï represents the rainforest of Côte d'Ivoire (in West Africa, French-speaking, the world's largest cocoa producer), Comoé National Park (Parc national de la Comoé) in the north-east represents the other side: open savannah, riverine forest and a great river running right through it. It is also one of West Africa's flagship cases of conservation going "from endangered to recovery".

A vast protected area strung along a river

Comoé National Park covers about 11,500 km² (around 1.15 million hectares) and is often described as one of the largest protected areas in West Africa. It gained national park status in 1968, and in 1983 was listed both as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and as a biosphere reserve.

The Comoé River flows for about 230 km through the park and, together with tributaries such as the Iringou and the Bavé, creates a wide variety of environments: from the drier Sudanian savannah zone to the wetter Guinean savannah zone, interspersed with wooded savannah, forest islands, gallery forests along the rivers and riverside grasslands. This combination of "forest within savannah" allows a single park to host very different species.

Biodiversity

These figures are updated as new surveys are carried out: a 2024 report, for example, cited more than 1,160 plant species and 497 bird species.

From the danger list to recovery

In 2003, poaching, agricultural encroachment, illegal gold mining and gaps in management led to Comoé being placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. For years, parts of the park could not be patrolled effectively, and it was only after 2012 that park staff were able to regain access.

The situation improved gradually over the 2010s. A 2017 field mission by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) confirmed that chimpanzees and elephants, previously thought to have disappeared, were still present in the park, with an estimated 300 chimpanzees and 120 elephants. The finding was all the more valuable because Côte d'Ivoire's national chimpanzee population has fallen by around 90% since the early 1990s. In July 2017, at its session in Kraków, Poland, the World Heritage Committee decided to remove Comoé from the danger list — the first World Heritage site in West and Central Africa to come off the list in more than a decade. The IUCN also warned that farming and small-scale gold mining inside the park still threaten key habitats.

Getting there and visiting

The park lies in the north-east; the Bouna area is a common gateway. Inside the park is the Bania lodge, and the town of Bouna offers accommodation at various price levels. In 2024, local tourism and conservation bodies held a forum to encourage visitors to return.

Given the size of the park, check with Côte d'Ivoire's Office of National Parks and Reserves (OIPR) before setting off about which areas are open, guided tours and the latest travel advice.

One line for Asian readers

Comoé showcases not only savannah and wildlife but also how conservation can turn things around in little more than a decade — a strong West African case study for teams interested in ESG or ecotourism.

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References: Wikipedia – Comoé National Park; IUCN – African national park taken off World Heritage danger list (2017); Fraternité Matin – Parc national de la Comoé : retour des touristes (2024)