This park has been considered being one of the last areas with primary rain forest in West Africa; this was first listed as a World Heritage Site in 1982 due to its amazing fauna and flora. The park is 100km from the Ivory Coast on the borders of Liberia, it’s in between cavally and Sassandra River and it occupies an area of 4540km² with evergreen forest.
The park is characterised with a conducive environment with a well drainage system consisting of many rivers such as N’zo, Meno, And Little Hana all draining to River Cavally. The park has also got a swampy forest that lies in its south-western part with ferralitic soils and this is where gold and some other mineral are extracted at a smaller scale.
The climate in the park is a moderate one with an annual mean rainfall of 1700mm but a shorter wet season is experienced in September. The park is throughout the year wet in the south though there is a dry season in the north from November to February. Small temperature fluctuations are experienced between 24-27ᵒC due to the influence of the ocean with a relative high humidity.
Fauna
The park has got over 140 species of mammals, twelve regional endemics and the five threatened species and 47 out of 54 large mammal species are said to occur in the Guinean rain forest. Some of the outstanding animals exhibited within the park includes, over 4000 West African Chimpanzees, Yellow backed duiker, zebra duiker, African forest buffalos, royal antelope, bongo, dwarf and pygmy hippotamus, Giant forest hog, African Forest Elephant and the black duiker.
Besides these the park has got around 11 species of primates including the Campbell’s Mona monkey, Diana monkey, Black and white colobus, Western red colobus, Sooty Mangabey, the Dwarf Galago, Greater spot-nosed monkey, giant pangolin, Bosman’s Poto. Some forest rodents can also be seen here and they include the Rusty-bellied brush-furred rat, the Edward’s swamp rat and the woodland dormouse.
The park has got a number of bird species and it is considered to be one of the world’s endemic bird areas with over 250 bird species, 28 of these are endemic here with 143 species typically being in the primary forest. These includes African Crowned eagle, rufous fishing owl, lesser kestrel, white- breasted guinea fowl, Brown cheeked horn bill, yellow-Casqued, green tailed Brittle bill, western Wattled cuckoo shrike, sierra Leone Prinia.
