Comoé National Park

The Comoé National Park (French: Parc national de la Comoé) 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 square kilometers (4,400 mi), and ranges from the humid Guinea savanna to the dry Sudanian zone. This steep climatic north–south gradient allows the park to harbor 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 Komoé River, including pristine patches of tropical rainforest 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 in Danger due to poaching, absence of management, and overgrazing of the park by cattle, problems that intensified after the outbreak of the First Ivorian Civil War. The 41st World Heritage Committee Session (Kraków, 2–12 July 2017) has decided to take Comoe National Park off the List of World Heritage in Danger following improvements in the conservation of its fauna and habitat.