Takamanda National Park

Central Africa > Cameroon > Takamanda National Park

Summary

• 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

Area	676 km²
Coordinates	6.177757 N, 9.340774 E
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, subtropical/tropical heavily degraded former forest

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 in Takamanda National Park

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Encounter rate (nests/km)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Gorilla gorilla diehli	Unknown	8-12			Takamanda National Park East (Kekpane area)	Index survey (reconnaissance walk)	WCS surveys as cited by Dunn et al. 2014
Gorilla gorilla diehli	Unknown	10-15			Takamanda National Park–North (Atolo area)	Index survey (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 in Takamanda National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	High		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).	Ongoing (2014)
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		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)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	Present, but threat severity unknown		Unsustainable harvesting of NFTPs (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present, but threat severity unknown		Illegal logging (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Unknown
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

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 in Takamanda National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	5.15. Implement monitoring surveillance strategies (e.g. SMART) or use monitoring data to improve effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement 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)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site has been a National Park since 2008.	Ongoing (2021)
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Takamanda National Park

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Takamanda National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

WCS Takamanda-Mone Landscape

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

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.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 29/11/2021