Nki National Park

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Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Nki National Park.
• It has been estimated that 3,421 gorillas and chimpanzees occur in the site.
• The great ape population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 3,093.62 km².
• Great apes are mainly threatened by hunting.
• Conservation activities have focused on anti-poaching measures.
• The site is part of the TRIDOM conservation landscape.

Site characteristics

Nki National Park is located in the south-eastern Cameroon, bordering the Republic of Congo to the south and Boumba-Bek National Park to the north. The national park was established in 2005 (UNEP-WCMC 2021). Nki National Park is part of the TRIDOM conservation landscape, which is spread over three countries: Gabon, Cameroon, and Congo (WWF n.d.). The TRIDOM landscape is very rich in biodiversity, and 97% of its surface is covered by forest (WWF n.d.), representing approximately 10% of the Congo Basin rainforest (WWF n.d.). TRIDOM is also home to an indigenous Baka population of around 10,000 people (WWF n.d.). In addition to gorillas and chimpanzees, the site harbors a wide variety of mammals, including elephants, buffaloes, giant forest hogs, sitatungas, and several species of duikers (WWF n.d.).

Table 1. Basic site information for Nki National Park

Species	'Pan troglodytes troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area	3,093.62 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 2.508848 , Lon: 14.466650
Type of site	Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Subtropical/tropical swamp forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Nki National Park

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
'Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2005				9,437	Nki National Park	Line transects		N'Goran 2017
'Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2012				11,417	Nki National Park	Line transects		N'Goran 2017
'Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla	2015				3,421	Nki National Park	Line transects & recces		N'Goran 2017

Threats

Poaching, facilitated by the traffic of automatic weapons, has been a major threat at the site (WWF n.d., N'Goran 2017). Other human activities, such as illegal mining and logging are also a threat to wildlife and their habitat at Nki National Park (N'Goran 2017).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Nki National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Although elephants have been the main target, poaching is also a major threat to apes and other wildlife at the site (N'Goran 2017).	Ongoing (2017)
3 Energy production & mining	3.2 Mining & quarrying	Present (unknown severity)	Illegal mining (N'Goran 2017).	Ongoing (2017)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	Illegal logging (N'Goran 2017).	Ongoing (2017)
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2 Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7 Natural system modifications		Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases		Unknown
9 Pollution		Unknown
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

The site is part of WWF's Jengi programme, which supports the management of Nki National Park and other sites that are part of the TRIDOM and TNS conservation landscapes. Anti-poaching measures seem to be showing positive results, as camera traps have recently captured a large herd of elephants (WWF 2017, WWF 2020).

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Nki National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.3 Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Government eco-guards are permanently stationed in the park and anti-poaching patrols are regularly conducted (WWF 2017).		Ongoing (2017)
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.11 Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g., SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of patrols	Wildlife monitoring team spends at least 15 days inside the park; camera traps help monitor wildlife (WWF 2017).		Ongoing (2017)
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The site was declared a National Park in 2005		Ongoing (2021)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Nki National Park

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Nki National Park

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Nki National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

N'Goran, K.P. (2017). Summary Report on WWF BIOMONITORING activities from 2014 to 2016 Status of Forest Elephant and Great Apes in Central Africa Priority Sites.

UNEP-WCMC (2021). Protected Area Profile for Nki from the World Database of Protected Areas, November 2021. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net

WWF n.d.TRIDOM: Tri-National Dja-Odzala-Minkébé. https://www.wwf-congobasin.org/where_we_work/tridom___tri_national_dja_odzala_minkebe/

WWF (2017). Anti-poaching measures show encouraging signs of recovery in Nki National Park.https://www.wwf-congobasin.org/?305371/Anti%2Dpoaching%2Dmeasures%2Dshow%2Dencouraging%2Dsigns%2Dof%2Drecovery%2Din%2DNki%2DNational%2DPark

WWF (2020). The elephants are returning to Nki National Park. https://cameroon.panda.org/?32710/The-elephants-are-returning-to-Nki-National-Park

Page created by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: NA