Kabore Tambi National Park

Protected Area

Park Authority: x
Headquarters: x
Tel: x
Fax: x
Email: x
Area: 155,500 ha
Province: x
Established in: 1986

The Park

Kaboré Tambi National Park is one of the two National Parks in Burkina Faso.
The importance of its biodiversity and the specific nature of its ecosystem make it an important nature reserve in the heart of West Africa.
Situated at 115 km in the south of Ouagadougou, it covers an area of 155,500 ha.

The first establishment decree dates back to 1936, but the current classification measure transforming it into a National Park dates back to 1986.
Paradoxically, after its establishment this Park suffered many attacks by man, and therefore requires today urgent conservation strategies.
This situation led the Foundation NATURAMA (an African NGO) to include in 1993 the conservation of this Park in its environment conservation national program.
In 1997 the Ministry of the Environment entrusted NATURAMA with the management of the Park for 10 renewable years, with the task to involve the surrounding villages in the enhancement of the scientific, educational, recreational, and economic areas.
This decision by the Ministry is the consequence of the current governmental policies aiming at improving environmental safeguard by making responsible local communities.

This Park is important:

for its forest coverage, in particular the vegetal formations growing along the river Nazinon (the former Red Volta)
for the climate regulating function guaranteed by the vegetal formations, which reduces aridity and desertification
for the richness in not yet degraded biocenoses and in particular phytocenoses
for the presence of several wildlife species that can be of tourist interest, with subsequent economic benefits for the surrounding villages
because it is an important source of not wooden forest products, important in the human and animal diet and in the traditional medicine and pharmacopeia
because in the Park it is possible to promote environmental education.

The Park flora mainly consists of species coming from Sudan and Zambia which adapted to the sub-Sahelian climate characterized by only one rainy season. 212 species have been registered in the various kinds of savannah.

The fauna consists of antelopes, elephants, monkeys, jackals, mongooses, genets, hyenas, warthog, etc. and of a considerable number of birds, reptiles (i.e. crocodile and monitor), and fish.

The Collaboration with Orsiera Rocciavrè Nature Park

NATURAMA has proved to be interested in starting exchanges with the Parks of Piedmont, to begin future collaboration activities.
In particular, in 2005 the collaboration with Orsiera Rocciavrè Nature Park began:

after a first stage characterized by the exchange of letters, in October 2005 the coordinator of Kaboré Tambi National Park together with a technician have been guests of Orsiera Rocciavrè Park for ten days, to discover the situation of the Parks of Piedmont and consider the possibility to start common projects;
in the same period, on a proposal of the technicians working in Kaborè Tambi National Park, Orsiera Rocciavrè Park promoted a training project aimed at the women of Mantiongo village, situated at the Park borders, for the production of karité soap and subsequently financed the necessary equipment to start the production;
in February 2006, two Park Keepers went to Burkina Faso to discover the situation of Kaboré Tambi National Park, handing out the equipment for the production of karité soap, checking the work done, and starting two new projects involving the population of the villages adjacent the Park;
the two new projects, started in March 2006, are linked to the development of the Greater Cane Rat breeding, a rodent eaten by the local population. This rodent can be a good source of proteins and the promotion of the production of soumbala - a sort of seasoning obtained from the fruits of the néré plant, very appreciated in West Africa - can be very useful to breed it.

Some moments of work in the Park: