A Traverse Through the Wild Wonders of Gashaka-Gumti National Park

Gashaka-Gumti National Park being the largest and most biologically and ecologically diverse of the seven National Parks in Nigeria, can boast of breathtaking scenic beauty and an abundant wildlife. The park lies in the mountainous northeastern region of Nigeria, bestriding the southeastern part of Taraba, which makes up the Gashaka enclave, bordering the temperate Mambilla […]

Gashaka-Gumti National Park being the largest and most biologically and ecologically diverse of the seven National Parks in Nigeria, can boast of breathtaking scenic beauty and an abundant wildlife. The park lies in the mountainous northeastern region of Nigeria, bestriding the southeastern part of Taraba, which makes up the Gashaka enclave, bordering the temperate Mambilla Plateau, and the southern part of Adamawa State which is the Gumti section, stretching to the Cameroon border, particularly, the Faro National Park in Cameroon. Thus, the park is divided into two sections, north and south, with each having its unique habitat and unique species of fauna and flora.

The Conservator of the Park, Dr Agboola Okeyoyin, said the park’s ecosystems are essential for specification, citing the montane forests in the Gashaka enclave to “habour at least 24 threatened plant species, several of which are Afromontane endemics. Prunus Africana, a specie believed to posses certain medicinal properties for the cure of prostrate cancer, is found in the thick forest fragments of the Park.”

The park, with an estimated landmass of 6, 731 square kilometers of rolling landscape and deep plunging valleys, also has pleasant natural scenic attractions that can sweep the tourist off his feet.  But the biggest challenge is the rugged terrain. If you are not adventurous, your heart will make so many somersaults taking a bumpy ride in the land rover, from Bodel, at the entrance of the park, through the winding jeep track, often plunging down the deep valleys and then labouriously climbing up the steep hills.

The ride continues like that for about 30 kilometres then you come to Mayo Kam, the headwaters of the Taraba and Benue Rivers. Mayo Kam being the biggest river in the park takes a meandering course, with looping bends defined by sedimentary rock formations, down River Taraba, River Katsina Ala and then River Benue. Just a few metres upstream from the seasonal wooden bridge is the hippo pool. The thick foliage on the river banks, the chirping birds on the verdure boughs of the trees and the swift flowing river would give you a paradisal feeling. But just when you are about to immerse yourself in the elixir of stress and boredom and free yourself in the wild world of nature, stories about crocodiles near the river gorge and the nearby hippo pool would make hairs on the nape of your neck stand up. Nevertheless, there are safe areas that guided by the park rangers, one can still enjoy the serene waters of Mayo Kam. It is a recognized site for sport fishing and the park management, with assistance from Chester Zoo, England, has built a Rangers camp to serve a dual purpose of a fishing camp for tourists and a rangers guard post, as according to Dr Okeyoyin, villagers around there have been using harmful chemicals and explosives to fish.

Within the same Gashaka part of the park, particularly in the rainforest region, animals like the giant foresthog, leopard, yellowbacked duiker, golden cat and primate species like chimpanzees.

The Gumti section in the north of the park has vast woodland, ideal for park-viewing as most of the mammals—buffalo, lion, elephant, wilddog, waterbuck, roan antelope, giant eland kob and hartebeest. Gumti section could also host terrific natural sceneries like Chappal Wade, the mountain of death, which is the highest peak in the country, standing at 2, 400 metres above sea level.

Recreation and leisure could be sought and ponny trekking on horses, donkeys and mules, especially along the historic German routes: Toungo to Tipsan, Toungo to Mayo Butale to Kila to Jiman to Gashaka and then from Gashaka to Salbe to Filinga to Masabere and Njawai area.

But the Park authorities said the ideal time for park-viewing, when some of the big animals could be seen in the open is from late December to April, when controlled burning is done so that animals can be seen.

Dr Okeyoyin, however, said “infrastructural development is one of the challenges we are facing but to the best of our abilities, and based on the limited resources at our disposal, we have opened jeep tracks and trails, for park-viewing, particularly, in Gashaka. From Bodel to Gashaka, it is an all season road. Then from Bodel to Majarandi, it is an all season road. Even in the northern sector, there are roads leading to the major tourists attractions. What remains in this Gumti enclave is accommodation, so we need to put up more structures so that when tourists come, they can have somewhere to sleep.”

According to Dr Okeyoyin, Gashaka-Gumti National Park is unique in up to five ways. “It is the only park in the West African sub region that you have natural transition from savannah to rainforest, to montane. Two, the park is the only park that has the highest concentration of Chimpanzees in the West African sub region as at today. It is also where the highest peak in the country is located, that is Chappal Wade,that is a plus for us. It is also the only park in Nigeria that has a sub temperate climate. The last one is that it is the most ecologically diverse park in terms of fauna and flora.”

He added that the park is an important bird area in Africa, with over 477 species of Avi-fauna having been recently recorded which include rare and endemic species.

In spite of all these beautiful stories about the park, the Conservator General of Nigeria Parks Services, Alhaji Haruna Tanko Abubakar, said there are myriads of problems besieging the management of parks in Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, Nigeria’s natural ecosystems are becoming highly vulnerable to many adverse influences. They are increasingly coming under pressure from excessive hunting, overgrazing, logging, slash and burn agriculture, shifting cultivation etc. The consequences of these actions are deforestation, desertification, erosion, drought and flood amongst others. Considering the foregoing scenario, the solution to such environmental woes lies in the proper management of the environment, National Parks and other Protected Areas. The National Parks are the few areas remaining that render crucial roles in environment protection, life support systems, recreation and ecotourism,” he said.

He added that the Gashaka Gumti National Park (GGNP) is an important factor in protecting the Mambilla highlands that serve as watersheds for the Benue and Taraba rivers, saying the policy objective of government on the Mambilla Hydro Electricity Dam project could only be achieved with the adequate protection of the National Park.

“The watersheds of the Taraba and Benue river systems are important for the sustenance of agriculture, fishing and livestock rearing. These are therefore, some of the compelling reasons why all hands must be on deck to ensure the protection and sustainable management of our National Parks,” he said.

He however said efforts are being made to ensure that the ecotourism potentials of the parks are enhanced for tourism boost in the country. “I can tell you that much has been achieved in terms of internal road networks. A lot of jeep tracks have been opened up for patrol and ecotourism activities. But as far as the roads leading to these national parks are concerned, it is a national problem and we have been making our case, telling the government  how bad the roads to these parks are”, stressing that the only way to make ecotourism viable is to have roads leading to these places well built.

He added: “We have been making efforts to live peacefully with our communities and the states because you find out that these national parks are resources of the states and we are only protecting them for the states for the sake of posterity. Conservation is about wise use of resources and for these resources to be wisely used, we will have to improve the ecotourism potentials of the parks. Especially if the external roads leading to the parks are well maintained, it will improve the patronage of tourists in the national parks. As it is now, generally, the conditions of the roads are not encouraging.

“Security within the national parks, by our training, our staff are regimented. They are rangers and our job is to patrol and curtail any encroachment. The problem is usually outside the national parks. But there are cases of armed bandits at this Serti axis, which is outside the park, but it has been discouraging tourists from coming here. If the federal government and the state government can put in more efforts towards improving the general security, it will encourage tourists coming outside Nigeria.

“I would like to appeal to the government to improve security so that tourism can be boosted and the dream of depending on tourism for foreign exchange and job creation can be achieved.

During the formal presentation of a 500kva generating plant by the National Park Services to Toungo Local Government in Adamawa state, Alhaji Abubakar said the gesture is to improve the socio-economic status of the community in Toungo Local Government.

“Developing projects such as this are geared towards attaining the Federal Government’s policy on Millennium Development Goals and the Community Support Programmes of the National Park. It is worth noting that the Community Support Programmes have been an integral part of the Park’s Management since its inception. This is because the National Park Services has realized that the well being of the host communities is crucial to the successful attainment of its goals of protecting, preserving and managing the park’s resources.

Earlier, while presenting a block of three classrooms to Mayo Jim primary school, which hitherto had three open huts as classrooms, Dr Okeyoyin said the park was contributing to the development of education in its host communities because the United Nations statistics show that 70 per cent of the world’s poor live in the rural areas and depend directly on biodiversity for survival and well being, and so, doing that was a way of combating poaching, which is a great menace in the conservation of parks.

Findings have shown that Africa’s wildlife was hunted heavily from the late 19th century well into the 20th century. By 1920, hunters had depleted wildlife populations and settlers had deforested large tracts of land. The once vast herd of elephants that had roamed the Eastern Cape, a province in southeast South Africa, was reduced to just 11 animals. Bontebok antelope were reduced to fewer than 30 by 1930, and the zebra also faced extinction.

South Africa took the first steps to reverse these trends by creating several parks and preserves. Addo Elephant National Park, established in 1931, now has more than 200 elephants within its borders. The park, encompassing 241 square kilomitres (93 square miles), also is home to the Cape buffalo, black rhinoceros, and 180 species of birds. Bontebok National Park near South Africa’s southern tip, also created in 1931, is a 31 sq km (12 sq mi) sanctuary for more than 300 bontebok antelope and more than 470 plant species. Mountain Zebra National Park (1937) in South Africa protects more than 200 mountain zebra, several antelope species and 200 bird species. Within the 62 sq km (24 sq mi) park are mountains, steep ravines, several aloe species and numerous varieties of flowering shrubs.

Kenya’s federally protected lands date to 1940 when Marsabit National Reserve and Park was established. Within the park are herds of elephants and greater kudu antelope that roam its 360 sq km (139 sq mi) of forests and savana.