NOV20

Classroom lesson · Wildlife · 🇳🇪 Niger

W National Park

A giant wildlife park shared by three countries

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

W National Park is a huge wildlife reserve in south-western Niger, named after the double bend of the Niger River that runs through it — which looks just like the letter W from above. It is special because it is shared between three neighbouring countries: Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. Animals roam freely across all three without knowing where one country ends and another begins.

Tell me more

The park covers more than 10,000 square kilometres of savanna — open grassland dotted with trees where lions, elephants, leopards, hippos and hundreds of bird species make their home. The Niger River runs through part of it, bringing water that animals travel for miles to reach, especially during the dry season.

Because the park crosses three borders, the three countries have agreed to manage it together. Rangers share information and patrol the park as a team. This kind of cross-border teamwork is rare and makes W one of the most important conservation efforts in West Africa.

W National Park was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with two other nearby parks — Pendjari in Benin and Arly in Burkina Faso — forming one giant connected wildlife corridor. Elephants that live here are part of one of the last large elephant populations in West Africa.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01The park is shared by three countries. Why is it helpful for countries to work together to protect wildlife?
  2. 02Animals like elephants need to travel long distances to find food and water. What might happen if a fence was built across the middle of the park?
  3. 03The park is named after a letter of the alphabet because of the shape of a river. Can you think of other places or things named after their shape?
Try this

Classroom activity

Look at a map of West Africa and find Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin. Draw the three countries and mark where W National Park sits across all three. Add arrows showing how an elephant might walk from one country into another.

More about Niger

Other things that make Niger special

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