Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
This large complex of contiguous conservation areas is located in the south-east of the country, to the east of Lake Kompienga (IBA BF007) and adjacent to the international frontiers with Togo, Benin and Niger. The core of the area is formed by the W National Park (235,000 ha) furthest east, against the joint frontier with Niger and Benin, Arli National Park (76,000 ha) to the south-west, along the border with Benin, and Singou Game Ranch (192,800 ha), immediately north-west of Arli. These are surrounded by classified forests and non-classified lands forming 10 hunting concessions and many adjacent village hunting zones. These different blocks constitute the largest remaining wilderness area in Burkina. In addition, they form part of transboundary reserves in Benin and Niger, thus doubling the size of the area. These include the IBAs of W National Park in Niger (NE001) and, in Benin, W du Bénin National Park (BJ001) and Pendjari National Park (BJ002).A major feature of the area is an extensive network of rivers, drainage lines and flood-plains. Although the Pendjari river, which forms the southern boundary of Arli and the frontier with Benin, is usually permanent, many of the smaller rivers and ponds dry completely by the end of the dry season. The non-inundated areas are covered in a shrub- and tree-savanna, with extensive stands of
Isoberlinia doka. The open, seasonally inundated plains are dotted with ponds ringed with
Mitragyna inermis while larger drainage lines are lined in places by gallery forest. Many scattered baobab
Adansonia digitata trees occur, marking the sites of old villages. There is an area of dramatic cliffs, the Falaise de Gobnangou, which extends for 50 km from the south-west to the north-east through the park, and also a number of isolated inselbergs.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. During the 1970s
Falco naumanni was frequent; its current status is unknown. The site contains the last significant populations in Burkina Faso of species such as
Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, Leptoptilos crumeniferus and
Balearica pavonina. The Falaise de Gobnangou, together with the adjacent Pagou peak and the cliffs near Tanbarga, holds the only breeding colony in of
Gyps rueppellii in Burkina Faso. Although there are no quantitative data, it is thought numbers exceed the 1% threshold for the species. It is also possible that more than 20,000 waterbirds occur but there are no counts.
Non-bird biodiversity: Numbers of the ungulate Damaliscus lunatus korrigum (LR/cd) in this complex of reserves represent possibly the last remaining viable population in the region; it is certainly the only one left in Burkina. The same is true for the mammals Acinonyx jubatus (VU) and, perhaps, for Lycaon pictus (EN); counts suggest that numbers of Loxodonta africana (EN) are increasing.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Arli and W National Parks were first classified in 1954; Singou Game Ranch was gazetted as a total faunal reserve in 1955 and became a game ranch concession in 1996. W National Park was declared a Ramsar Site in 1990. Nomadic pastoralists from Mali and Niger have been increasingly invading the area and a cattle route to Togo is now established through the centre of the complex. This route is not well supervised and is often accompanied by excursions into the heart of wildlife areas and the cutting of browse for livestock. It is expected that subsistence poaching will decrease once community programmes, which are in preparation, become operational. Recent decreases in annual rainfall have resulted in significant die-offs of large mammals, as hitherto permanent ponds have dried up. Hunting concessionaires have recently begun to recognize the need for adequate water provision in the hunting areas as well as year-round protection and appropriate fire management, to ensure that commercial exploitation remains viable. Several conservation and biodiversity support programmes are planned.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Arli - W - Singou complex (Burkina Faso). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/arli--w--singou-complex-iba-burkina-faso on 23/12/2024.
