W NATIONAL PARK
Situated in 3 countries, W National Park is named for the bends in the Niger River that meanders in the shape of a W. This spectacular but relatively secret park in an unvisited corner of Africa has lots of wild animals, including the “big 5″. It is the largest park in Africa, is well-appointed and setup for safari by car, and a great deal cheaper than the game parks in the East in Kenya and Tanzania.
Lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, elephants, hyenas, antelopes, crocodiles, warthogs, eagles, rhinos, and a multitude of birds flood the park and make walking a very dangerous proposition unguided, and driving a spectacular odyssey. The Niger River empties into the Gulf of Guinea after snaking from its source thousands of kilometers inland, and along the park creates with its life-giving power and rock-carving strength the last reserve in Africa of these animals on this grand untouched scale, a place of serenity that represents the last of its kind in West Africa.
THE NIGER RIVER, THE ISLANDS, AND THE VALLEY (Le fleuve Niger, les îles et la vallée) Tentative WHS (26/05/2006)
Located in the Tillabery, Niamey and Dosso departments of the far west of the country and watered by the Niger River, the Tillabéry region covers an area of 91,199 km. The geographic basin is made up of vast desert areas, flood plains and marshy areas characterized by the presence of large valleys that gradually dry up. It is bounded to the north by Mali, to the west and southwest by Burkina Faso, to the south by Benin, to the southeast by the Dosso region and to the northeast by that of Tahoua. The Nigerian part represents 21% of the entire watershed – Middle Niger stretches from Timbuktu (Mali) to Malanville (Benin). A portion of lower Niger (Gaya on the border with Nigeria) is also included.
The Niger River and its tributaries (Gorouol, Sirba, Goroubi, Tapoa, Mékrou) contains a considerable number of species (mammals: crocodiles, hippos, manatees, antelopes and carnivores).
The population of the Niger River is estimated at 2,700,000 inhabitants. It is made up of a mixture of people: Zarma, Wogo, Haoussa, Peulh, Touareg and for a good part, Songhaï and Djerma, mainly farmers, fishermen and piroguiers who live along the river. This cosmopolitan population also practices agriculture and animal husbandry.
River navigation is an important activity, both for the transport of goods and people but depends on the depth of the river water and thus the season.
From Tillabery to Koutougou are 14 islands settled from prehistory with some sites dating to the 1st centuries of the Christian era. The region of Tillabery is the area of contact between two great ancient cultures whose particularity is on one side, the fine terracotta pearls of Yatakala (4th century AD) and on the other side, the terracotta funeral statuary and in stone from the sites of Bura and Lourgou (2nd century AD). However, some of these islands risk being drowned by the possible construction of a dam.
Great intermingling of the different peoples. The traditional architecture is exceptional, especially those of houses painted and decorated by women.
The hillock of Yassan overhanging the Niger River is a gathering place for hippos. This particular natural site also includes elements of rock carvings on slabs. In Kourki, there are rock engravings with human and animal representations.
The Niger River is compared to that of the Nile.
LE SITE DE LOUGOU (26/05/2006)
350 km east of Niamey, it is the origin of the inhabitants of Arewa and a very important place of worship of Saraounia. The site includes a mythical stone of justice “Tunguma”, the tombs of the various Queens Saraounia and the battle site of the French column Voulet and Chanoine.
Saraounia represents a primordial and religious principle of its people. The first Queen Saraounia goes back to the dawn of time. Only daughter of the king of Daoura, first Hausa royalty, she was ousted from the throne by her paternal uncles and fled with one of them to settle after several stages in Lougou in current Aréwa. They then formed the nucleus of the Goubawa or Goubé that all of the current populations (the Zarma, the Kourfayawa, the Peuls, and the Tuareg) admit having found locally in the region of Dallol Bosso and Maouri at the end of the 14th century AD.
The tradition speaks of 15 Saraounia queens having reigned in Lougou. Saraounia Aldjima Gado is the current queen having reigned for the last 23 years. She still officiates today. The court session is every Wednesday and Sunday.
We can thus retain five main sites in Lougou:
1 – The site of Toungouma, the sacred stone of judgment. It was this sacred Tunguma stone that guided the first Queen Saraounia from Daoura to Lougou.
2 – The Azna cult site of Jakouda,
3 – The cemetery of the queens,
4 – The site of the battle of 1899. One of these queens, Saraounia Mangu opposed the French column Voulet-Chanoine of sinister memory between May and June 1899. The site of this completely bare and neglected battlefield is still strewn with human bones, some locations are marked with stones. However, there is an urgent need to develop and protect this cemetery. The perimeter of the site is difficult to assess. It is estimated that it could extend over 2.5 km².
5 – The current home of Saraounia
The ritual on the death of the Queen consists in bringing together the women with rights, likely to replace her. During this ceremony, the body of the deceased designates the one who will succeed her on the one hand and the location of her own grave on the other.
This site is completely abandoned despite the presence of the village. The women organized a 333 km march (from Lougou to Niamey) to express their concern about the site and reiterate their commitment to take care of it.
MARE D’OUNSOLO OU N’SOLO (26/05/2006)
Located in the far west of Niger, 30km NW of the town of Tera. Ossolo is a semi-permanent pond, fed by runoff and enjoying an important protection belt (lowland formation) composed essentially of Acacia nilotica. It covers an area of 9000 ha.
The climate, like that of the whole region is Sahelian. The depths of rain decrease along a south – north axis varying from 250 mm to 450mm. There are two winds, namely: the harmattan, hot and dry wind blowing from the North – East to the South-West (November – April); the monsoon, a wind which blows from the South West to the North East, generally carrying rains.
The Dargol River, a tributary of the Niger river crosses the pond of Ossolo in its upper course, takes its source in Burkina Faso and flows in a west-east direction. The Ossolo pond, lasts 7 to 8 months.
The volume of water recorded depends on the periods. In December, the pond is an 80 ha oval. During the rainy season, the water reaches the foot of the dune flooding the forest, is 3 km in length and covers 400 ha.
Plants. Trees and shrubs well adapted to drought. 110 plant species (including 34 woody species and 76 herbaceous species). The dominant woody species in order of importance Acacia nilotica (23%); Balanites aegyptiaca (17%); Acacia seyal (14%) and Mitragina inermis (10%).
Mammals: Red-fronted Gazelle, hare, squirrel, jackal and the fennec and until a recent past (20 years ago) hartebeest, warthogs, lions and buffalo.
Reptiles: sebae python, two monitor lizard species, bees.
Fishing is practiced by the entire population of the five riverside villages (Sékomé, Midigadi, Bogue I, Bogue II and Bonabon) all belonging to Bégorou Tondo their administrative village. The marketing of fish is mainly carried out in a smoked form by women from villages in the surrounding markets and a fishmonger from Téra. Fish farming lasts four months a year (from November to February due to the drying up of the pond in February / March).
Ponds that appear during the rainy season are essential for fauna which can feed and drink there throughout the dry season. They are an important guarantee of survival during this period which is characterized by very high temperatures with practically zero humidity.
PALAIS DU ZARMAKOYE DE DOSSO (26/05/2006)
The Zarmakoye Palace is the seat of the Sultan of Dosso , in Niger. The Zarmakoye is the traditional leader of Zarma from the 15th century. In 1902, the Zarmakoye Augusta von Dosso was assimilated to the chief of Maradi, thus becoming the most powerful of the Zarma chiefs. He built Zarmakoye Palace in 1904.
Since 2006, the Zarmakoye Palace has been included on the indicative UNESCO World Heritage List in Niger 1 .
In 2009, the Zarmakoye Maidanda supported the Nigerien president Mamadou Tandja who was running for a third mandate not authorized by the constitution. In June 2009, Maidanda decorated President Tandja with the title of Mazayaki, traditionally reserved for the war statues of Zarmakoye. As a result, riots broke out and parts of the Zarmakoye palace were reduced to ashes by opponents of the regime.
The palace is located in downtown Dosso, opposite the Great Mosque. The white building is characteristic of the architecture of the city. The palace grounds are surrounded by a wall. In the inner courtyard reserved for women is a fountain, the Dey Zarmakoye. Zarmakoye or Djemakoye is the oldest title of the Sultan of Dosso. All the Zarmakoye who died after the construction of the palace are buried there.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF BURA (Site archéologique de Bura) (26/05/2006) is Located in the Tillabéry Region in southwest Niger. The Bura archeological site has given its name to the area’s first-millennium Bura culture.
The Bura site consists of many individual necropoleis with coffins crested by unusually-distinctive terra cotta statuettes. The main necropolis itself has a diameter of about one kilometer. Burial mounds, religious altars, and ancient dwellings occur here over a large area. In 1983 a site 25 meters by 20 meters was excavated.
After a Bura-Asinda exhibition toured France in the 1990s, the ancient Bura earthenware statuettes became highly valued by collectors, sought for their unusual abstraction and simplicity. 90 percent of Niger’s Bura sites have been damaged
Other Bura artifacts have been large terracotta burial jars (both tubular and ovoid) and varied funerary pottery, equestrian clay statues.
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on May 26, 2006 in the Cultural category
ZONE GIRAPHE (26/05/2006)
Niger giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta) is a subspecies of the giraffe which is recognized by the light patches of its coat and which is found in the Sahelian regions of West Africa , hence its other name of West African giraffe
In the 19th century, it was distributed from Senegal to Lake Chad, but in 2008 this subspecies survives only in a few isolated pockets harboring less than 200 individuals at any one site . The last autonomous herd lives in the southwest of Niger, and all the captive individuals believed to belong to this subspecies are in fact the Kordofan giraffe subspecies.
Population growth with more intensive agriculture and hunting, a series of dramatic droughts since the end of the 19th century and the destruction of the environment (both natural and manmade) contributed to its dramatic decline.
As recently as the 1960s, before the Sahel drought, which lasted until the early 1980s, populations identified as G. c. peralta existed in Senegal, Niger, eastern Mali, northern Benin and northern Nigeria , Chad and from southwest to northern Cameroon .
However, recent genetic research has shown that the populations of northern Cameroon and Chad are actually the Kordofan Giraffe ( G. v. Antiquorum ) Consequently, the remaining giraffes in Waza National Park (Cameroon) belong to the Kordofan giraffe subspecies, while the Niger giraffe population is only found in Niger
Herds have been reported in the Agadez region , and in the west and south of the country. Herds travel regularly in the region of Gao in Malias well and throughout the Niger River Valley in Niger. Drought hit again in the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1991 there were fewer than 100 live individuals, the largest herd living in the western Dosso region with less than 50 individuals, and single individuals scattered along the Niger River valley from Benin to Mali, and sometimes going to W National Park and in nearby reserves.
Previous studies on giraffe subspecies have led some researchers to question the distinct status of G. c. peralta and the Kordofan giraffe (G. v. antiquorum ). Genetic tests published in 2007 confirmed the distinctiveness of the Niger giraffe. There could be at least six cryptic species of giraffe that are reproductive isolated and do not mix, even if no natural obstacle, such as mountain ranges or impassable rivers block their mutual access. In fact, the study found that the two populations closest to each other, the reticulated giraffe (G. reticulata ) in northern Kenya , and the Masai giraffe (G. v. Tippelskirchi ) in southern Kenya, have been genetically separated for between 0.13 and 1.62 million years, judging by genetic drift in nuclear and mitochondrial drift. In 2016, genetic tests on 190 copies resulted in a reclassification of giraffes into four species with the Niger giraffe, which has become a subspecies of the northern giraffe, G. camelopardalis.
Most of the captive giraffes native to north-west Africa are found in French zoos, due to the history of French colonialism in what was French West Africa . These giraffes were once considered to be G. c. peralta . Since genetic analyzes have revealed that only giraffes living west of Lake Chad belong to this subspecies, the populations of European zoos have in fact turned out to be Kordofan 3 giraffes.
Conservation efforts since the 1990s have led to significant population growth, although largely limited to the Dosso herd alone. From a minimum of 50 individuals, it had returned to some 175 wild individuals in 2007, and in 2014 450 in Niger, particularly in the area just north of the Dosso Partial Wildlife Reserve. From there, this herd makes seasonal migrations to the drier highlands along the Dallol Bosso valley, as far north as Kouré, some 80 km south of Niamey . This area, although having little formal regulation, is the center of Nigerien and international efforts to maintain harmonious relations between the farmers of the region and the giraffe herd,
The life of the Nigerien population of giraffes rests on a seasonal migration between the relatively drought-tolerant plains of the Niger river valley and the dry uplands near Kouré. There, the tiger bush allows groups of trees to thrive in climates that might otherwise become more desert.
Parc national du « W », sites archéologiques (26/06/2006)
THE CLASSIFIED FOREST, THE LAKE of MADAROUNFA and the TOMBS of the 99 SAINTS. (La forêt classée, le lac de Madarounfa et les tombeaux des 99 saints (26/05/2006).
These stand side by side in Madarounfa. The Madarounfa forest is located about 1 km north of the lake. With an area of 830ha, it sits in a valley with sandy soils of alluvial plains, varied species: Tamarindus indica ; Mitragina inermis ; Anogessus leocarpus; Acacia albida; Bauhiniarufescens; Acacia seyal; Senegalese acacia. With its islets and neighboring classified forests, the 800ha Madarounfa lake is a refuge for storks, ducks, teals, knights, camerons, pelicans, etc.
The tombs are found around and in the lake. The date of the first manifestation of the saint is unknown but is most likely in the XIXth century.
The first saint was Ma’arufa Karfin (in a flood zone, his tomb measures 15 m by 5 m and 45 cm in height. The last saint dates back 15 years (around 1990.) The number 99 attributed to the Saints also corresponds to that of the rosary used by Muslims. People come from all neighboring countries like Nigeria and even Cameroon.
A rectangular low wall surrounds the tombs. The tradition reports that certain Thursday evenings the other saints manifest themselves around the tomb of Ma’arufa Karfin by manifestations of light.
The site is not threatened but some tombs are submerged in the lake.
NIGER PART OF LAKE CHAD (Chad Partie nigérienne du lac Chad) (26/05/2006)
The Nigerian part of Lake Chad covers an area of 340,423 ha with an average altitude of 286 m and an estimated depth of 4 m.
Located in an arid and semi-arid zone, it receives very little precipitation with an annual average of 20cm (approximately twenty two rainy days per year for a winter season which lasts three months from July to September). The highest temperatures are recorded in April, May and July exceeding 40 ° C.
The lowest are recorded in January and are significantly below 15 ° C and sometimes around 0 ° C.
River contributions from Lake Chad mainly come from Logone, Chari and the El Bief river at 89%, rainwater at 10% and Komadougou at 1%.
However, due to its shallow depth and small volume, the lake does not absorb significant variations in the hydrology of the tributaries well. Thus, the light floods of 1972-1973; 1973-1974; and 1982-1983 resulted in a significant reduction in area and isolation, followed by drying up of the North basin.
The vegetation of the Niger part of Lake Chad is located in the Sahelo-Saharan sector. Mammals: red-fronted gazelle, the warthog, the jackal, the hare, the patas monkeys. endangered: fennec, lycaon, gazelle dama.
Birds: Lake Chad usually hosts 200,000 or more birds. R
Reptiles rarely encountered: Nile crocodile, Nile monitor lizard and turtles.
Pisces: 120 species. Fishing is dependent on the rising waters in the Nigerian part of the lake. It is one of the most profitable activities in the area. Almost all of the production is smoked, then exported to Nigeria.
The population in 1997 was 30,382 people composed mainly of kanouri of Toubous and Peulhs. It is divided into two major groups: agro – pastoralists in the south and pastoralists in the north. Livestock ranks first with cattle, camels, donkeys, horses, sheep. Arable land represents 119,000 ha while the cultivated area is 5,403 ha. The main crops are: millet, wheat, cowpea, corn, melon, cabbage, onion, tomato, pepper, garlic. Irrigation is also practiced. Sorghum cultivation is developed (6,000 ha). Date palm.
Climatic conditions in tropical Africa leads to its progressive drying characterized by its biodiversity. However, its area of around 3,000 km 2 is less than that of Lake Victoria (68,000 km 2 ) shared by 3 countries: Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Unlike the latter, the diversity of fish species in Lake Chad is greater.
GALBEDJI WILDLIFE RESERVE (Réserve de faune de Galbedji) (26/05/2006)
Located in the north of Dakoro, at the gateway to the Sahara Desert. This area covers an area of 76,000 ha. The climate is Sahelian with two seasons: a dry season which lasts from October to May and a rainy season from June to September. Water consists of several temporary ponds located inside the reserve and 150 cemented wells surround the reserve on both sides.
At the extremities of the reserve, the few remaining herbaceous plants are composed of Panicum turgidum, Aristida mutabilis, and Leptadenia pyrotechnica. The woody plants are represented by Boscia senegalensis and Caparis corymbosa.
In the central part, there is a fairly degraded cover with a coverage rate of 1 to 2% in places. The plant species that are encountered consist of: Commiphora africana , Acacia raddiana , Balanites aegyptiaca , Ziziphus mucronata , Acacia eremhbergiana . The herbaceous carpet consists of Zornia glochidiata, Aristida sp, Choenepheldia gracilis, Cenchus biflorus etc …
The third ecological zone is made up of forest galleries (60% coverage rate) concentrated here and there in the depressions serving as temporary pools in the rainy season.
Pure stands of Balanites aegyptiaca , Sclerocaria birrea , Comiphora africana and Acacia constitute the floristic framework of the gallery forests of the reserve. Also, some groves of Euphorbia balsamifera are observed here and there, constituting the refuge of gazelles, patas monkeys and jackals of the Gadabédji wildlife reserve.
Formerly composed of several species, the fauna of this region can be summed up in a few relict populations of dorcas gazelles, patas monkeys, jackals, fennecs, various reptiles, etc.
The avifauna is composed of the following species: Oricou, ruppel gyps, Nubian bustard, Pharaoh hen, great Arab bustard, brown pernopter and migratory and sedentary birds.
The population of the area is made up of the following ethnic groups: Hausa, Tuaregs and Fulani.
Livestock is the main socio-economic activity in the area.
Trade is poorly developed and is organized at the level of weekly markets.
It was created in 1955 to protect the scimitar-horned oryx (now extinct in the country) and the gazelles.
TERMIT MASSIF. Tentative WHS (26 /05/2006)
Mountainous region in southeastern Niger to the south of the Tenere desert and the Erg of Bilma, the northern areas of the Termit, called the Gossololom consists of black volcanic peaks which jut from surrounding sand seas. The southern Termit is a roughly east–west range of heavily eroded black sandstone. Its foothills on the south west are the Koutous hills.
The small human population of the Termit is mostly nomadic, with Toubou settlements in the north and east, and more Tuareg and Diffa Arabs to the west
There are few permanent settlements or all weather roads in the area. Communities within the region include Termit Kaoboul in the south centre and Kandil Bouzou in the southeast. Neighbouring settlements include Tasker, Abourak and Haltouma to the southwest; Béla Hardé to the southeast, and Koussa Arma, Oyou Bezezé Denga, and Agadem on the eastern fringe. Settled communities on the south west fringe are largely Hausa, and to the south east Kanuri. The large Kanuri town of N’guigmi is to the southeast and the Hausa cities of Goure and Zinder are to the southwest.
Termit is home to the Termit Massif Reserve, a 700,000 hectare faunal reserve established in 1962 to protect endangered antelope and Addax populations.