Comoé National Park
| Comoé National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Comoe NP savannah with rainbow
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| Location | Côte d'Ivoire |
| Coordinates | 9°0′0″N 4°0′0″W / 9.00000°N 4.00000°WCoordinates: 9°0′0″N 4°0′0″W / 9.00000°N 4.00000°W |
| Area | 11,500 km2 (4,400 sq mi) |
| Established | 1983 |
| Type | Natural |
| Criteria | ix, x |
| Designated | 1982 (6th session) |
| Reference no. | 227 |
| State Party | Côte d'Ivoire |
| Region | Africa |
| Endangered | 2003–present |
The Comoé National Park is a Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Zanzan and Savanes Districts of north-eastern Ivory Coast. It is the largest protected area in West Africa, with an area of 11,500 km2, and ranges from the humid Guinea savanna to the dry Sudanian zone. This steep climatic north-south gradient allows the park to harbour a multitude of habitats with a remarkable diversity of life. Some animal and plant species even find their last sanctuary in some of the different savanna types, gallery forests, riparian grasslands, rock outcrops or forest islands.
The park was initially added as a World Heritage Site due to the diversity of plant life present around the Comoé River, including pristine patches of tropical rain forest that are usually only found further south. As a well-eroded plain between two large rivers, the land in the area is home to relatively infertile soils and a moisture regime suitable to a richer biodiversity than surrounding areas. In 2003 it was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger due to poaching, absence of management, overgrazing of the park by cattle, problems that intensified after the outbreak of the First Ivorian Civil War.
The area around the Comoé National Park was historically always sparsely populated. Most likely due to the relative barenness of the soil, the presence of the river blindness disease around the Comoé river and the high density of Tsetse flies, which is a vector for sleeping sickness. In 1926 the area between the Comoé River and Bouna was declared "Refuge Nord de la Côte d'Ivoire", which was enlarged later in 1942 and 53 to "Réserve de Faune de Bouna", giving it some rudimentary protection. The area west of the Comoé river was added to the property on 9 February 1968 combined with an elevation to National Park status with an area of 11,500 square kilometres (4,400 sq mi), making it one of the 15 largest National Parks in the World and the largest in West Africa. In 1983 the park was pronounced a biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site, due to its unique biodiversity.
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Wikipedia