Garamba National Park (French: Parc national de la Garamba) is a national park located in the north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It covers nearly 5,200 km² (2,000 square miles). The park is one of Africa’s oldest protected areas and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980 because it helps protect important habitats for northern white rhinoceroses, African elephants, hippos, and giraffes. Since 2005, the park has been managed by African Parks in partnership with the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature.

Overview

Garamba National Park was created in 1938 and covers an area of 4,900 km² (1,900 sq mi) in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is surrounded by the Gangala-na-Bodio Hunting Reserve on the west, south, and east, and shares borders with South Sudan on the north and northeast. The park is located in the Sudano–Guinean savanna zone. It is one of Africa's oldest protected areas. The park lies in the area where two centers of unique wildlife habitats meet: the Guinea-Congolian and Guinean-Sudanese savanna zones. These regions support many types of wildlife, but their populations have decreased in recent years due to poaching. Rangers from the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, supported by soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, work to protect the park from poachers and rebel groups.

History

The national park was created in 1938. In 1980, it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. From 1984 to 1992, it was listed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. Between 1991 and 1993, about 50,000 Sudanese refugees moved outside Garamba after being forced to leave by the Sudan People's Liberation Army. This caused more poaching in the area. From 1993 to 1995, there were 121 fights between poachers and park rangers, and more than 900 weapons were found by rangers between 1991 and 1996. In 1994, the International Rhino Foundation gave money for patrol vehicles. In 1995, it also helped pay ranger salaries. In February 1996, two rhinos—one male named Bawesi and a pregnant female named Juliet—were killed. Garamba was added back to the danger list in 1996 because of poaching of northern white rhinos. After losing battles during the First Congo War and Second Sudanese Civil War, especially Operation Thunderbolt, Ugandan rebels from WNBF and UNRF (II) found safety in Garamba National Park in 1997. Groups like the Frankfurt Zoological Society, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and World Wildlife Fund worked with local leaders to help restore Garamba.

African Parks’ efforts to stop poaching have helped reduce animal deaths. According to BBC, Garamba’s management has been supported by the European Union and private donors. Other supporters included the United States Agency for International Development, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildcat Foundation, and World Bank, as reported by African Parks.

Since 2005, the protected area has been part of a Lion Conservation Unit along with Domaine Chasse Bili Uere.

Poachers have killed at least 21 park rangers in the past 10 years, as of 2017. Security issues have made it hard for Garamba to become a popular tourist spot. Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army used the park as a hiding place. In 2009, the group attacked Garamba’s Nagero station, killing at least eight people, including two rangers, and injuring 13 others. Rebels also stole food and fuel and damaged park buildings. In 2015, poachers killed five rangers and three members of the Congolese military in three conflicts. More rangers were killed in October 2015. In April 2016, poachers shot and killed three rangers and injured others, including Garamba’s manager at the time. In April 2017, elephant poachers killed two rangers. According to photojournalist Kate Brooks, who made a documentary called The Last Animals, 13 rangers and military members were killed defending Garamba between January 2015 and April 2017.

In 2017, National Geographic Documentary Films released The Protectors: Walk in the Rangers’ Shoes, a short virtual reality film about the park’s rangers and their work to protect wildlife. The Tribeca Film Festival gave an award to rangers who died protecting Garamba in April 2017 for their work to save elephants.

Flora and fauna

The park's savannah grasslands have few acacia trees. Some of the grasses in Garamba can grow as tall as 3 meters (10 feet).

Garamba is home to 138 recorded mammal species, including several types of antelope, African buffalo, African bush elephant, hyenas, giant forest hog, giraffes, hippopotamus, and lions. The park is the only place in the country where Kordofan giraffes live, and it has one of the largest remaining groups of African bush elephants in the country.

The elephants in Garamba are a mix of African bush and African forest elephant types. Poaching has greatly reduced the number of elephants in the park over recent decades. In 2011, there were about 2,800 elephants. By 2017, this number had dropped to fewer than 2,000, a sharp decrease from the estimated 20,000 elephants in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2012, 22 elephants were killed, and in 2014, 68 elephants were killed by poachers in just two months. Elephant poaching numbers dropped from 98 in 2015 to 3 in 2022 due to improved law enforcement efforts.

Giraffe populations in the park have generally declined since the 1990s and 2000s. The highest recorded number of giraffes was 300 in 1976, and more than 100 were counted in 2008. In 1993, there were 356 giraffes, but by 2007, this number had dropped to 86. In 2003, 86 giraffes were counted, and by 2016, only 38 remained. As of 2022, there were 71 giraffes in the park, and in 2024, over 80 Kordofan giraffes were reported to be present. Poaching remains the biggest threat to the giraffe population.

The park once held the last wild group of northern white rhinoceros. In the mid-1980s, only 15 northern white rhinos were reported in Garamba, leading to its addition to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. Between 2003 and 2004, 20 to 25 rhinos were estimated to be in the park. In 2023, 16 northern white rhinos were moved from a private reserve in South Africa to the park as part of restoration efforts.

Garamba is home to about 286 bird species, including the secretarybird. The park was designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports large numbers of many bird species.

People living near the park often have conflicts with wild animals. Local and South Sudanese poachers hunt elephants, usually for ivory. Wildlife in the park is also affected by groups such as the Huda and Wodaabe (or "Mbororo") who search for grazing land.