Takamanda National Park

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Summary

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• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) & Cross river gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli) are present in Takamanda National Park.
• The population sizes are unknown.
• The great ape population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 676 km².
• Key threats to great apes are poaching, logging, and increasing accessibility by roads.
• Conservation activities have focused on monitoring wildlife and law enforcement.

Site characteristics

Located in northeastern Cameroon, the site was first established as Takamanda Forest Reserve in 1934 to protect watersheds and conserve the area for timber production (Dunn et al. 2014). In 2008 it was upgraded to national park to protect the gorillas, as well as for its biological and transboundary importance (Dunn et al. 2014). The site and the neighbouring Okwangwo region in Nigeria are important areas for many large mammals; these include- in addition to the Cross River Gorilla and Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee- drills, Preuss's guenon, forest elephants, an buffalos (Sunderland-Groves & Maisels 2003).

Table 1. Basic site information for Takamanda National Park

Species	'Gorilla gorilla diehli
Area	676 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 6.177757 , Lon: 9.340774
Type of site	Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, Subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Gorillas are concentrated in three localities of the park. The first one consists of 25 sq.km in the east of the park, in the hills north of Kekpane. The second one covers only about 15 sq.km in an extremely steep and rocky area in the northeast of the park. The third site lies north of the Obonyi villages and extends across the Nigeria-Cameroon border into Okwangwo (Dunn et al. 2014).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Takamanda 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
Gorilla gorilla diehli	Unknown				8-12	Takamanda National Park East (Kekpane area)	Reconnaissance walk		WCS surveys as cited by Dunn et al. 2014
Gorilla gorilla diehli	Unknown				10-15	Takamanda National Park-North (Atolo area)	Reconnaissance walk		WCS surveys as cited by Dunn et al. 2014
Gorilla gorilla diehli	2001				100	Takamanda Forest Reserve	Informed guess		Sunderland-Groves, Maisels & Ekinde 2003

Threats

Bushmeat is still an important source of income and protein for villages at the site. Although traditional hunting rights were given to local communities and the use of firearms has been prohibited since 1934, firearm hunting is widespread throughout the area (Sunderland-Groves & Maisels 2003).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Takamanda National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Increasing accessibility by roads (Dunn et al. 2014). Road between the Takamanda forest and the Mone and Mbulu forests, allows access to the forests and, subsequently, increased export of agricultural and forest products, including bushmeat (Sunderland-Groves, Maisels & Ekinde 2003).	2003-Ongoing (2014)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Trafficking of bushmeat across the border with Nigeria and other parts of Cameroon. Gorilla meat is eaten, their bones are used in traditional medicine and as fetishes, and infants have been sold as pets (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
5 Biological resource use	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	Present (unknown severity)	Unsustainable harvesting of NFTPs (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	Illegal logging (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2 Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3 Energy production & mining		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

Transboundary cooperation between Okwangwo and Takamanda has been strongly promoted through activities such as regular joint anti-poaching patrols, an annual transboundary workshop, exchange visits and information sharing to capture poachers (Dunn et al. 2014).

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Takamanda National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.11 Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g., SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of patrols	The CyberTracker system has been implemented for wildlife and law enforcement monitoring at the site. It has also been used for data collection during wildlife surveys (Dunn et al. 2014).		Ongoing (2014)
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The site has been a National Park since 2008.		Ongoing (2021)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Takamanda National Park

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Takamanda 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 Takamanda National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

WCS Takamanda-Mone Landscape

References

Dunn, A., Bergl, R., Byler, D., Eben-Ebai, S., Etiendem, D. N., Fotso, R., ... & Williamson, E. A. (2014). Revised regional action plan for the conservation of the Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) 2014–2019. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and Wildlife Conservation Society.

Sunderland-Groves, J. L., Maisels, F., & Ekinde, A. (2003). Surveys of the Cross River gorilla and chimpanzee populations in Takamanda Forest Reserve, Cameroon. Takamanda: the biodiversity of an African rainforest, 8, 129-140.

Sunderland-Groves, J. L., & Maisels, F. (2003). Large mammals of Takamanda Forest Reserve, Cameroon. Takamanda. The Biodiversity of an African Rainforest, 111-127.

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