List of protected areas of Cameroon
[5] The park encompasses an area of 180,000 ha (444,790 acres) in size and has a wide frontage to the Bénoué River.
[8] Wildlife reported from the park consists of elephants, spotted hyena, water buck, warthog, monkeys, large ungulates such as antelope, the Derby eland (Africa's largest antelope), kob, western hartebeest, Lord Derby's eland and waterbuck and buffalo.
In the dry season, sandbars exposed by fluctuating levels of the sandy Bénoué River provide habitat for plover and other waterbirds.
[13] To combat this problem, Cameroon has deployed helicopters and 600 soldiers to control elephant poaching in its parks.
The biodiversity of the area has wide range of plants and animals species including several taxonomic endemics.
The mammal species reported are 87 including elephants, lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, hippos, giant pangolins, black colobus, mandrills and leopards.
[17][19] The park is subject to many threats to its ecosystem mainly due to logging, poaching, agricultural activities and coastal development[20] Douala Edéa National Park is located in the Littoral Region of Cameroon, on either side of the mouth of the Sanaga River on the shore of the Bight of Biafra, opposite the island of Bioko.
Fauna include forest elephants, primates (chimpanzees, monkey species such as black colobus), antelopes (sitatunga, blue duiker, etc.
[25] The endangered red-eared nose-spotted guenon was reported in the Lombé part of the park in densities of 2-3 groups per square kilometers, but populations had dropped elsewhere due to hunting.
[2] Its habitat consists largely of Sudanian savanna in topography with elevation between 250 m and 500 m. It is close to the Nigerian border, surrounded on the eastern side by several hunting reserves.
[27] It used to house the last representatives of the western subspecies of the black rhinoceros, but this species is now considered extirpated from the area, and extinct.
[28] Mammals also reported by IUCN include Taurotragus derbianus and Damaliscus lunatus korrigum (VU), and a few Loxodonta africana (EN).
The natural savannas found here are a few saline swamps only and they are bordered normally by palm thickets (Phoenix or Raphia on wetter ground) with large areas of sedge marshes (Rhynchospora corymbosa).
The dominant species reported are Sterculiaceae (Triplochiton, Pterygota), Ceiba pentandra and Terminalia superba.
The canopy is mostly open with understorey consisting of thick Marantaceae–Zingiberaceae thicket or a closed 6–8 m tall layer of Ebenaceae and Annonaceae trees.
Birds reported by IBS total 305 species; Bradypterus grandis is the most important and is found in Rhynchospora marsh and has a density of 1 pair per ha area of the park.
Saline swamps and a few ephemeral flooded areas with Uapaca forests are found along the Dja River.
The flat and grass-covered terrain of the park is extensively inhabited by herds of buffalo, elephants, bongos and sitatungas.
Avifauna species reported by IBA are 265 species which include Bradypterus grandis (in Rhynchospora marsh), Glaucidium sjostedti, Glaucidium capense, Caprimulgus batesi, binotatus and yellow-bellied form of the forest robin Stiphrornis erythrothorax.
It is reported to be one of the best parks in the Francophone countries of Africa[2][36] UNESCO inscribed it as a biosphere in 1982 and for its preservation and conservation a Management Master Plan was drawn up in 1997.
[38] The faunal species reported from the park are giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, elephant Loxodonta africana, aardvark Orycteropus afer, warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus, hyena Hyaena hyaena, lion Panthera leo, red-fronted gazelle Gazella rufifrons, waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus, kob Kobus kob, topi Damaliscus lunatus, roan antelope Hippotragus equinus, impala Aepyceros melampus, vervet monkey Cercopithecus aethiops, patas monkey Erythrocebus patas, olive baboon Papio anubis, leopard Panthera pardus, and cheetah Acinonyx jubatus.
Avifauna reported are also substantial and some of the important species are: areostrich Struthio camelus, ground hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus, bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus, white-faced tree duck Dendrocygna arborea, Abyssinian roller Coracias abyssinica, standard-winged nightjar Macrodipteryx longipennis and guinea fowl Numida meleagris.
It was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987 under Natural Criteria ix and x, on account of the diversity of species present in the reserve.
It is reported as the largest and best-protected of rainforests in Africa with 90 percent preserved in pristine condition mostly due to its difficult accessibility.
Cameroon became independent in 1960, and the national government retained the country's system of protected areas, and designated new ones.
Following the Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1992, the number of protected areas increased substantially and were well distributed covering all the ten provinces of the country in widely differing topographic, climatic, hydrological and biological conditions.
