Arli National Park, Natural reserve in Est Region, Burkina Faso.
Arli National Park covers 760 km2 in Tapoa Province, southeastern Burkina Faso, bordering Benin's Pendjari National Park and the Singou Reserve. Its habitats range from gallery forests along the Arli and Pendjari rivers to savanna woodland and the sandstone hills of the Gobnangou chain.
The park was established in 1954, marking one of the first wildlife protection efforts in southeastern Burkina Faso. This founding initiated organized conservation work in the region.
The park's name comes from the Arli River, which crosses it with the Pendjari. Since 1993 its management has been delegated to the Burkinabè NGO NATURAMA, which works with villages around the reserve. The wetlands earned Ramsar designation in 2009, and in 2018 UNESCO recognised the Arly biosphere reserve, enlarged in 2020 into the cross-border W-Arly-Pendjari complex with Benin and Niger.
The park is accessible via the N19 highway through Diapaga and offers guided tours for wildlife observation. Visitors should join a local guide to experience the area safely and see animals in their habitats.
The park is home to around 200 hippopotamuses that gather at Tounga waterhole during the dry season. This represents one of the largest concentrations of these animals in the western Sahel region.
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