Abuko National Park is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 c ...

lying south of the town of

Abuko Abuko is a town in the West Coast Division of the Gambia, five miles southwest of the capital Banjul. It is located in the district of Kombo North/Saint Mary to the north of Banjul International Airport and Abuko Nature Reserve. Location Abuko ...

. It is a popular tourist attraction and was the country's first designated wildlife reserve.

History

The area was first accorded some measure of protection in 1916 when the Lamin Stream, which flows through the reserve, was fenced to form a water collection point.Access Gambia website
/ref> The enclosure of the stream saw an increase in the stock of wildlife and flora in the forest. In 1967 wildlife officer Eddie Brewer and his daughter

Stella Marsden Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy *Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain Characters * Stella (given name), including a list of characters with t ...

visited the area and realised the conservation importance of the forest and its wildlife. Brewer made a request to the government for the area to be protected. In 1968 the Department of Wildlife, now the

Gambia Department of Parks and Wildlife Management The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicati ...

was established at the reserve.FAO: Forest and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
/ref>

Flora

The flora consists of a typical savanna and gallery forest landscape. Typical trees, up to thirty feet high, are:

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm '' Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its co ...

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus '' Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Un ...

iroko Iroko (also known as in Igbo language, '' in the Urhobo language of Southern Nigeria, and as odum in the Kwa languages of Ghana) is a large hardwood tree from the west coast of tropical Africa that can live up to 500 years. This is the common ...

and

anthocleista procera ''Anthocleista procera'' is a species of plant in the Gentianaceae family. It is a small tree that is found from West Tropical Africa. Description ''Anthocleista procera'' is a small tree that typically grows between 6 and 20 meters tall. The ...

Fauna

There are three monkey species:

vervet monkey The vervet monkey (''Chlorocebus pygerythrus''), or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term "vervet" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus '' Chlorocebus''. The five distinc ...

s, red colobus monkeys and

patas monkey The common patas monkey (''Erythrocebus patas''), also known as the wadi monkey or hussar monkey, is a ground-dwelling monkey distributed over semi-arid areas of West Africa, and into East Africa. Taxonomy There is some confusion surrounding ...

s. Other mammals include antelope, squirrel, porcupine, African palm civets,

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to ...

galago Galagos , also known as bush babies, or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are ...

s, and several types of rodents, including cane rats.Gambia Department of Parks and Wildlife Management
/ref> Among the reptiles at the park are

monitor lizard Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. About 80 species are reco ...

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...

dwarf crocodile The dwarf crocodile (''Osteolaemus tetraspis''), also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile (a name more often used for the Asian mugger crocodile) or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest ext ...

, spitting cobra, black cobra, python,

puff adder The puff adder (''Bitis arietans'') is a viper species found in savannahs and grasslands from Morocco and western Arabia throughout Africa except for the Sahara and rainforest regions.U.S. Navy. 1991. ''Venomous Snakes of the World''. US Govt. ...

and green mamba. More than 270 bird species have been recorded in the forest. There are also numerous butterflies and moths. At one end of the site are several enclosures which serve as an orphanage for needy animals, including an enclosure in which a pack of hyenas is held.

References

{{authority control National parks of the Gambia Protected areas established in 1968