Zakouma National Park (Arabic: حديقة زاكوما الوطنية) is a 3,000 km (1,158 sq mi) national park in southeastern Chad, located on the border between Guéra Region and Salamat Region. Zakouma is the oldest national park in the country, established as a national park in 1963 by a presidential order, which provided it with the strongest level of protection allowed by Chad's laws. Since 2010, the park has been managed by the nonprofit group African Parks, working together with the government of Chad.
History
Zakouma National Park is the oldest in Chad. The government created it in 1963. Its wildlife has faced dangers from the ivory trade and poaching, including actions by Janjaweed groups. In May 2007, armed groups attacked the park's headquarters to take 1.5 tons of ivory that had been collected from poachers over the years. The attack resulted in the deaths of three rangers.
In 2010, the Chadian government partnered with African Parks to help manage and protect the park and its animals, especially elephants. The park's plan to stop poaching includes giving about 60 rangers special devices like GPS trackers and radios to improve communication, movement, and safety. Rangers also use horses and vehicles to move more easily. In 2011, the European Union promised 6.9 million euros to protect the park for five years.
In 2012, efforts to protect elephants expanded beyond the park's borders. An airstrip was built in Heban to help monitor migrating animals. In August, rangers in Heban destroyed a camp used by members of the Sudanese army after four elephants were killed. Three weeks later, poachers attacked a Zakouma outpost in Heban and killed several guards. After this attack, more bases were built, a second plane was bought, and a rapid response team named "Mambas" (after a type of snake) was created to improve security. Since 1998, 23 guards have been killed protecting Zakouma, including seven in 2007, four between 2008 and 2010, and six in 2012.
In February 2014, Chadians celebrated the park's 50th anniversary. A ceremony was held, attended by President Idriss Déby, and included burning a pile of ivory made from one ton of elephant tusks to discourage poaching.
African Parks and the Labuschagnes, who managed the park from 2011 to 2017, are credited with reducing poaching and increasing the number of elephants in Zakouma. In 2017, African Parks took over management of ecologically important areas near Zakouma, including the Siniaka-Minia Faunal Reserve and Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve.
Flora and fauna
Zakouma National Park is located in the Sudano-Sahelian vegetation zone, which includes shrubland, tall grasses, and Acacia forests. Plants found in the park include Combretaceae and Vachellia seyal.
Large mammals in the park include African buffalo, African bush elephant, Kordofan giraffe, greater kudu, hartebeest, tiang, African leopard, and lion. It is estimated that 60% of the 2,300 Kordofan giraffe remaining worldwide live in Zakouma National Park.
A study of the park's small mammals found nine rodent species and two shrew species. Rodents include the African grass rat, Congo gerbil, Guinea multimammate mouse, Heuglin's striped grass mouse, Johan's spiny mouse, Kemp's gerbil, Matthey's mouse, African striped ground squirrel, and Verheyen's multimammate mouse. Shrew species reported in the study were the savanna shrew and one from the genus Suncus.
Birds in the park include ostriches, cranes, eagles, egrets, herons, ibis, pelicans, and storks. The park is designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports large numbers of black crowned cranes, red-throated bee-eaters, black-breasted barbets, Niam-Niam parrots, sun larks, red-pate cisticolas, purple starlings, Gambaga flycatchers, Heuglin's masked weavers, and black-rumped waxbills.
The park's elephant population declined significantly during the 2000s. Estimates varied over time, with more than 4,000 elephants in 2002, fewer than 900 in 2005, and about 400–450 by 2010. In 2002, there were 4,300–4,350 elephants. Numbers dropped to 3,885 in 2005 and 3,020 in 2006. By late 2012 to April 2015, only about 450 elephants remained. After African Parks took over management in 2010 and strengthened protection efforts, poaching declined, and the herd stabilized and began breeding again. As of 2021, there were 636 elephants in the park.
More than 100 elephants were killed in 2006. Seven elephants were killed in 2007, showing a major drop in poaching due to improved protection efforts. In early 2010, 60 elephants were killed by Sudanese poachers before African Parks became involved. In 2015, CNN reported no elephant poaching in the park since late 2011, and no ivory had been removed from the park in the previous five years. Few elephant births occurred between 2010 and 2012 due to environmental challenges, but 23 calves were born in 2013, about 50 in 2014–15, and 70 in 2016. No elephant poaching incidents were reported after 2016.
The last black rhinoceros in the park were seen in 1972. Between 2015 and 2016, African Parks planned to reintroduce black rhinos. In 2017, after a memorandum of understanding was signed between Chad and South Africa, six black rhinos were sent to Zakouma under a custodianship agreement. Two rhinos died in October, and two more died the following month, leaving only two females, which are being closely monitored. On December 6, 2023, five additional black rhinos arrived in the park, five years after the previous four rhinos died. Originally, six rhinos were to be moved, but one bull was excluded due to a history of depression.
Tourism
In 2016, over 5,000 locals stayed at the park's camps. Tinga Lodge, built by the government in 1968, can house up to 48 people. Camp Nomade, a mobile safari camp, had its first guest on 13 January 2015.