Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve
Ivory Coast · Africa
About Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve
Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve covers parts of Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea. It is an endangered UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reserve covers significant portions of the Nimba Range, a geographically unique area with unusually rich flora and fauna, including exceptional numbers of single-site endemic species, such as viviparous toads, and horseshoe bats. Its highest peak is Mount Richard-Molard at 1,752 m (5,750 ft), which is the highest peak of both countries.
Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve travel guide
Understand
The nature reserve on the Guinean side has 13,000 hectares, while the Ivorian side has 5,000. The Biosphere Reserve (Guinea) has 17,000 hectares. Mount Nimba lies in remote region along the tri-nation border of Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, and Liberia, far from their capital cities. The Liberian part of the mountain is greatly degraded due to former mining activities. However, the Guinean half of the ridge is highly protected; and therefore this part is still characterized by intact montane ecosystems, and unique species assemblage (as well as the smallest, Ivorian section).
History The Monte Nimba Integral Nature Reserve was declared in 1943 in Côte d'Ivoire and in 1944 in Guinea . The Guinean sector was internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and, in 1981, was inscribed by UNESCO on the list of World Heritage sites; the site was expanded in 1982 to include the Ivorian sector. Adjacent to these reservations, that of Liberia has already been proposed to be included as well. The reserve was inscribed in 1992 on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of the proposal to grant an iron mine to an international consortium and the settlement of a large number of refugees in the Guinean part of the hill. Although the Guinean government created a "Mount Nimba Environmental Management Center" and the boundaries of the area were redefined, in 1999 the mine project was still standing, although outside the protected region. The government, as investors, assured the international community that they will make every effort to maintain the ecological integrity of the site.
Landscape The reserve includes Mount Nimba, the highest mountain in Côte d'Ivoire, and Guinea (1752 meters). It is located on the border between the two countries. Mont Nimba lies between the tropical forest and the West African savannah zone. It is part of an archipelago of peaks and plateaus, a secluded refuge covered by Guinean montane forest at a higher elevation, which rises steeply
Getting there
To visit the strict nature reserve is the best choice from Guinea, where a local tour operator organizes guided tours from Conakry.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.