Mont Sângbé National Park is a national park in Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...

, considered one of the world's principal national parks. It acquired national park status in 1975.

The National Park is located entirely within the Monts du Toura

Monts du Toura

The Monts du Toura, also known as the Toura Mountains, are a range of mountains rising to 1300 metres in elevation, extending westward across Côte d’Ivoire from the Sassandra River to the border with Liberia and Guinea...

, a range of mountains west of the Sassandra River

Sassandra River

The Sassandra River is a river of western Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Tienba River, which originates in the highlands of northwestern Côte d'Ivoire, and the Gouan River , which originates to the west in the highlands of Guinea...

, taking in 14 peaks.. It covers an area of 95,000 ha (950 sq km/360 sq m) north of Man

Man, Côte d'Ivoire

Man is a town in Man Department in the west of central Côte d'Ivoire. It is part of Dix-Huit Montagnes Region and is an important market town lying between mountains including Mount Toura and Mount Tonkoui, the two highest in the nation, and La Dent de Man, popular with hikers. The city lies near...

, between Biankouma

Biankouma

Lying in Dix-Huit Montagnes Region, Biankouma is the chief town of Biankouma Department of Côte d'Ivoire, located north of Man in the western part of the country. The town is divided into old and new towns, the old town buildings being heavily ornamented. Biankouma is also known for its fetish...

 and Touba

Touba

Touba may refer to:*Touba, Côte d'Ivoire*Touba, Boké -Guinea*Touba, Labé -Guinea*Touba, Mali*Touba, Senegal...

. The park consists of very densely vegetated savanna woodland with wildlife populations of elephants, buffaloes, warthog, antelopes and monkeys.

Great apes population

Herbinger and Lia (unpublished, 2001) carried out a chimpanzee

Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...

survey in Mont Sangbe National Park in May 2001, finding a population of 235-260 individuals in a survey area covering less than 5% of the park's total area, a population density of 5.7 chimpanzees per km2.

External links

• Language, Gender and Sustainability Project Toura Map, accessed 25 December 2010.