Kiang West National Park is one of the largest and most important wildlife reserves in The Gambia

The Gambia

The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....

. It was declared a national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 in 1987 and is managed by The Gambia Department of Parks and Wildlife Management.

Geography

The park covers an area of 11,526 hectares, and is located on the south bank of the Gambia River

Gambia River

The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...

, in the Lower River Division

Lower River Division

Lower River is one of the five administrative divisions of The Gambia. Its capital is Mansa Konko.-Districts:Lower River is divided into 6 districts:*Jarra Central*Jarra East*Jarra West*Kiang Central*Kiang East*Kiang West-See also:...

 in the Kiang West

Kiang West

Kiang West is one of the six districts of the Lower River Division of The Gambia....

 District. The park is located about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away from Tendaba village, 145 kilometres (90.1 mi) from The Gambia's capital city Banjul

Banjul

-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...

, and 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) from The Gambia's coastline. The Gambia River marks the park's northern boundary. Three bolons (creeks)—the Jarin, Jali, and Nganingkoi—divide the park's interior into three sections. The park is unpopulated, with villages located close outside its borders.

Most of the park is located on a plateau of low altitude, and is mostly Guinea savanna and dry deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 woodland, and it also has tidal flats and mangrove creeks.

Flora

Vegetation types in the park include Guinean savanna and dry deciduous woodland. The park's tree species include the baobab

Adansonia digitata

Adansonia digitata is the most widespread of the Adansonia species on the African continent, found in the hot, dry savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa. It also grows, having spread secondary to cultivation, in populated areas...

 (Adansonia digitata), red acacia

Acacia seyal

Acacia seyal, the Red acacia, known also as the shittah tree , is a thorny, 6–10 m high tree with a pale greenish or reddish bark. At the base of the 3–10 cm feathery leaves there are two straight, light grey thorns, growing to 7–20 cm long...

 (Acacia seyal), Pterocarpus erinaceus

Pterocarpus erinaceus

The tree Pterocarpus erinaceus is native to Sahelian region of West Africa and is used for fuel wood, for medicinal purposes, as a woodworking material, and that is useful as a nitrogen-fixing plant that helps to improve nutrient-depleted farming land...

, Ceiba pentandra, Terminalia macroptera

Terminalia (plant)

Terminalia is a genus of large trees of the flowering plant family Combretaceae, comprising around 100 species distributed in tropical regions of the world. This genus gets it name from Latin terminus, referring to the fact that the leaves appear at the very tips of the shoots.Trees of this genus...

, Prosopis africana

Prosopis

Prosopis is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains around 45 species of spiny trees and shrubs found in subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, Africa, Western Asia, and South Asia. They often thrive in arid soil and are resistant to drought, on occasion...

, and Ficus

Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...

 species. Grasses in the park include Andropogon

Andropogon

Andropogon is a genus of grasses. Andropogon gerardii, big bluestem, is the official state grass of Illinois.Broomsedge is found along the eastern United States...

.

Fauna

The park is an important area for The Gambia's wildlife, as individuals of most of its remaining mammal species are found within it. These mammals include the African clawless otter

African Clawless Otter

The African clawless otter , also known as the cape clawless otter or groot otter, is the second largest freshwater species of otter. African clawless otters are found near permanent bodies of water in savannah and lowland forest areas...

 (Aonyx capensis), Bushbuck

Bushbuck

The bushbuck is the most widespread antelope in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is found in rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaics and bush savannaforest and woodland. Recently, genetic studies have shown that the bushbuck, is in fact a complex of two geographically and phenotypically...

 (Tragelaphus s. scriptus), Caracal

Caracal

The caracal is a fiercely territorial medium-sized cat ranging over Western Asia, South Asia and Africa.The word caracal comes from the Turkish word "karakulak", meaning "black ear". In North India and Pakistan, the caracal is locally known as syahgosh or shyahgosh, which is a Persian term...

 (Caracal caracal), Common duiker

Common Duiker

The Common Duiker, Sylvicapra grimmia, also known as the Grey or Bush Duiker, is a small antelope with small horns found in west, central, east, and southern Africa- essentially everywhere in Africa south of the Sahara, excluding the horn of Africa and the rainforests of the central and western...

 (Sylvicapra grimmia), Leopard

Leopard

The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...

 (Panthera pardus pardus), Marsh Mongoose

Marsh Mongoose

The Marsh Mongoose, or Water Mongoose, is a medium-sized mammal but a large mongoose. Weight can range from , with an average range of . From the head to the base of the tail, these animals range from , with the tail adding . It is a member of the mongoose family and the only member of its genus...

 (Atilax paludinosus), Serval

Serval

The serval , Leptailurus serval or Caracal serval, known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, "tiger-forest-cat", is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal...

 (Leptailurus serval), Sitatunga

Sitatunga

The situtunga or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout Central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and parts of Southern Sudan as well as in Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.-Description:Situtunga stand about one and a...

 (Tragelaphus spekii), Spotted hyena

Spotted Hyena

The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...

 (Crocuta crocuta), Warthog

Warthog

The Warthog or Common Warthog is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P...

s (Phacochoerus africanus), and West African manatee (Trichechus sengalensis). West African manatees and Humpback Dolphin

Humpback dolphin

Humpback dolphins are members of the genus Sousa. These dolphins are characterized by the conspicuous humps and elongated dorsal fins found on the back of adult members of the species...

s are sometimes observed in the Jarin bolon.

The park's reptile species include the African python (Python sebae), Bell’s Hinged Tortoise (Kinixys belliana nogueyi), Nile crocodile

Nile crocodile

The Nile crocodile or Common crocodile is an African crocodile which is common in Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, South Africa, Malawi, Sudan, Botswana, and Cameroon...

 (Crocodylus niloticus), Nile monitor

Nile monitor

The Nile Monitor, Water Leguaan, or River Leguaan is a large member of the monitor lizard family ....

 (Varanus niloticus), Puff adder

Puff adder

Puff adder is the common name of several snake species:* Bitis arietans, a venomous snake species found in Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula* Bitis, any other member of this genus...

 (Bitis arietans), Royal python (Python regius), and Spitting cobra

Spitting cobra

A spitting cobra is one of several species of cobras that have the ability to eject venom from their fangs when defending themselves against predators. The sprayed venom is harmless to intact skin...

 (Naja nigricollis).

The park has more than 300 bird species, more than half of all the bird species that have been recorded in The Gambia. Some of the park's bird species have a very local distribution and are rarely observed in other locations in The Gambia. There are 21 birds of prey, including eagle

Eagle

Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...

, falcon

Falcon

A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

, harrier

Harrier (bird)

A harrier is any of the several species of diurnal hawks forming the Circinae sub-family of the Accipitridae family of birds of prey. Harriers characteristically hunt by flying low over open ground, feeding on small mammals, reptiles, or birds....

, hawk

Hawk

The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...

, and vulture

Vulture

Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...

 species. There are quite a large number of birds of prey in the park during the dry season. Other bird species in the park include ten Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...

 species, the Ground-hornbill

Ground-hornbill

The ground hornbills are a subfamily of the hornbill family Bucerotidae, with a single genus Bucorvus and two extant species....

, and the threatened Brown-necked Parrot (Poicephalus robustus fuscicollis), which breeds in the park's mangroves. Other bird species include White-fronted Black-chat (Myrmecocichla albifrons), Dorst's Cisticola (Cisticola dorsti), Burchell's Courser (Cursorius rufus), Brown-rumped Bunting (Emberiza affinis) and Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver (Plocepasser superciliosus), which have restricted distributions in The Gambia. The Bateleur

Bateleur

The Bateleur is a medium-sized eagle in the bird family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as buzzards, kites and harriers...

 (Terathopius ecaudatus), a short tailed eagle species, is the park's official symbol. The Bateleur hunts for sandgrouse

Sandgrouse

The sandgrouse are a family, Pteroclididae, of 16 bird species, the only living members of the order Pteroclidiformes. They are restricted to treeless open country in the Old World, such as plains and semi-deserts. They are distributed across northern, southern and eastern Africa as well as...

 and pigeons in the park, and is most often seen there from July to September.

Conservation and tourism

Local people are permitted to gather a small amount of firewood and forest products, and to cultivate some rice within the park boundaries. Annual forest fires badly affect the park. In 2001, a large fire burned through the length of the park for two days.

The park receives few tourists. November to January are the best months to visit. The park's headquarters and tourist bungalows are located at Dumboto. Tendaba Camp in Tendaba village has been open since the 1970s and is the most established base for trips to the national park. Chalets in this camp provide accommodation for tourists. The park's road system is underdeveloped. Tubabkollon Point, located near a sandy beach beside the Gambia River in the northeast of the park, is a good place for visitors to watch wildlife. The park is becoming well known as a good place for birdwatching.