The park has a total area of about 4,000 km2, most of which consists of primary moist tropical rainforests in the North and Central parts, with mangrove swamps on the coastal zones.

Parts of the park belong to the Guinea-Congolian region, with a closed canopy and scattered emergent trees reaching[1] 40 or 50 meters in height.

The Nigerian National Park Service (NNPS), which reports to the Federal Ministry of the Environment and is headed by a Conservator General, is in charge of the CRNP.

The World Wide Fund for Nature - UK played a leading role for the plan to establish the park in two divisions separated by farmland and the Cross River valley, with a budget of $49.9 million.

The plan envisaged villagers in the buffer zone being involved in running the park and being given development aid.

After a small amount of initial aid, the funding dried up and the villagers became hostile to the park administration.

Because the ICDP and relocation initiatives did not yield substitute means of subsistence, the local residents are left with no choice but to continue utilizing the CRNP's resources—albeit with illegal implications.

[3] The Nigeria National Park Service is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing & Urban Development.

In 2010, 250 of the total 320 personnel worked in Park Protection and Conservation, mostly male due to the rigors of the job, based at twelve ranger stations.

Despite attempts at training, many of the rangers are poorly qualified and are dissatisfied with pay, equipment, motivation and career prospects.

[6] The division shares a long border with Korup National Park in the Republic of Cameroon, forming a single protected ecological zone.

It is located roughly 42 kilometers from Calabar, the state capital, and shares an eastern border with Cameroon's Korup National Park.

[14] The environment is rugged, with elevation rising in hilly areas from river basins to more than a thousand meters above sea level.

Other species unusual in Nigeria include bat hawk, Cassin's hawk-eagle, crested guineafowl, grey-throated rail, olive long-tailed cuckoo, bare-cheeked trogon, lyre-tailed honeyguide, green-backed bulbul, grey-throated tit-flycatcher and Rachel's malimbe.

[16] The forest remains largely untouched in the less accessible areas, but around the margins it has been considerably affected by human activity.

[6] An approach to involving local communities in management of forests in the buffer zones has been tested with some success in the old and new Ekuri villages in the northwestern part of the Oban division.

The Ekuri Community Forestry Project was set up with the help of park officials and foreign donors to improve management of the forest and access to markets.

[7] In November 2008 Takamanda was upgraded to a National Park through a joint project with the Wildlife Conservation Society and the government of Cameroon, with protection of the endangered Cross River gorilla a major objective.

][12] Over 280 species of birds have been recorded, including the vulnerable grey-necked rockfowl, which breeds in the Mbe mountains and the golden greenbul, rare in Nigeria.

[16] The gorilla habitat consists of semi-deciduous, montane and derived savannah environments in a complex of hilly escarpments with steep valleys, with peaks that rise as high as 2,000m.

[12] In 2003 it was thought that the Boshi Extension Forest in the north of the division and the Okwa and Ononyi Hills in the south were together home to 50-60 individuals, generally living in isolated subpopulations and therefore at risk of genetic inbreeding.

The main targets for illegal logging are Carpolobia, Garcinia and ebony, woods that are scarce outside the park.

The local people, with reason, are suspicious of government promises that they will receive long-term economic assistance in exchange for giving up their land, and instead demand exorbitant cash payment.

Other ways to protect the endangered species include creating corridors or eco-ducts, highway diversion[20] and improved policing.

The Kanyang tourist village, about one hour's drive from Calabar, will give visitors a base from which to view the park, with a lodge, restaurant and wildlife museum.

Activities include game viewing, bird watching, gorilla tracking, mountaineering or hiking, sport fishing, boat cruising and the Botanical garden and Herbarium in Butatong.

The deep plunge pool at the foot of the waterfall was hidden under the thick canopy of the tropical rainforest before deforestation.