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At Niokolo-Koba, water is a way into the landscape. A river, the vegetation along its banks, then savannah: these habitats form a place that becomes clearer when we look at what connects them. We want to begin there, before the animal photographs and the promises of adventure. With a river, and the space it makes for life.
One park, several landscapes
In Senegal, Niokolo-Koba National Park covers 913,000 hectares. The Gambia River and its tributaries cross gallery forests, savannahs, ponds and rocky ground. Derby elands, chimpanzees, lions and leopards are among the species listed by UNESCO, which inscribed the park on the World Heritage List in 1981.
What holds our attention is also the way one landscape becomes another. Trees follow a riverbank, spaces open up, and water gives the map a different rhythm. An animal's outline cannot tell the whole story of a park. There must be room for its connections, its distances and everything a single photograph leaves outside the frame.
Conservation continues
In 2007, Niokolo-Koba joined the List of World Heritage in Danger. Poaching and other human pressures threatened its conservation. On 24 July 2024, UNESCO removed it from that list, recognising progress in surveillance and species monitoring. It also called on Senegal to continue its efforts. The 2024 decision records an important step, with more work ahead.
We want to keep both dates in view. Together, they help us talk about a living place, its vulnerabilities and the efforts devoted to it. A landscape is not a permanent backdrop. Discovering the park also means taking an interest in what allows its habitats to endure.
Time to look
For a first introduction, the map and the park profile offer useful bearings: follow the Gambia, distinguish the habitats, then return to the images with those names in mind. We like this way of approaching a landscape in stages. It leaves room for curiosity, without making a wildlife encounter into a promise.
Niokolo takes its name from this park. In our current collection, the Niokolo-Koba tee carries a printed chest patch; the park poster offers a different composition, with a footbridge and a hippopotamus. Two ways to carry this discovery into everyday life, within our Senegal chapter.