W National Park

The W National Park (French: "W" du Niger) is a major national park in West Africa around a meander in the River Niger shaped like a "W". The park includes areas of the three countries Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso, and is governed by the three governments. Until 2008, the implementation of a regional management was supported by the EU-funded Project ECOPAS (French: Ecosystèmes Protégés en Afrique Soudano-Sahélienne). The three national parks operate under the name W Transborder Park (French: Parc Regional W).

Mekrou River in the W-National Park

Fauna The park is known for its large mammals, including aardvarks, baboons, buffalo, caracal, cheetahs, elephants, hippopotamuses, leopards, lions, serval and warthogs. The park provides a home for some of West Africa's last wild African Elephants. However, the rare West African Giraffe, today restricted to small parts of the Niger, is absent from the park. The W Park is also known for historic occurrence of packs of the endangered Painted Hunting Dog, although this canid may now be extirpated from the area. The W area is also known for its bird populations, especially transitory migrating species, with over 350 species identified in the park. African elephants roan antelope kob antelope

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