NaijaTalkTalk- Ecotourism in Nigeria

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, known for its complicated oil industry in the Niger Delta and its multiculturalism, well on display in the massive metropolis of Lagos. Ecotourism contributes to the national economy, with much of it centered around the wildlife on display in game preserves and national parks.

Locations

National parks and protected reserves are scattered throughout Nigeria, providing critical footholds for embattled wildlife and natural ecosystems as well as premier ecotourism locations. National parks include Chad Basin, Cross River, Gashaka-Gumti, Kamuku, Kainji Lake, Okomu and Old Oyo. An eighth site, the well-known Yankari Game Reserve, held national-park status before its transfer in management to the Bauchi State Government, according to the Nigeria National Park Service.

Wildlife

Nigeria's wildlife has suffered from a variety of ills as a result of the country's expanding population, poaching, resource extraction and other anthropogenic effects. National parks and game reserves provide the last strongholds for many of its larger creatures.

The African lion, for example, the continent's biggest and most dominating carnivore, has been mostly eradicated from Nigeria, but visitors to Yankari and Kainji Lake might see these huge tawny cats. Birdlife can be extraordinarily diverse. Aquatic creatures add to the wildlife-watching action: Rivers in Yankari Game Reserve, for example, harbor Nile and slender-snouted crocodiles.

The waters of the Niger River in Kainji Lake shelter one of Nigeria's most intriguing and threatened creatures, the African manatee, a close relative of the West Indian manatee so emblematic of Florida. Cross River National Park, with its steaming lowland rainforests and swamps, is a great stronghold of Nigeria's primates, from endemic monkeys to great apes: the exceedingly rare Cross River gorilla -- a subspecies of western lowland gorilla -- and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee.

Gashaka-Gumti

One of Nigeria's most impressive ecotourism destinations is Gashaka-Gumi, a huge park on the Cameroon border. Protecting about 2,599 square miles, Gashaka-Gumti straddles a great ecological and topographic transition zone from lowland rainforests and cloud-swept highlands in the south to its northern plateaus draped in grasslands and savannas. Wildlife here is diverse, from giant forest hogs and chimps in the lowland rainforest to African wild dogs and eland in the airy woodlands and open country. The park also includes Nigeria's highest mountain, 7,936-foot Chappal Waddi.

Tours

Guided safaris are an option in Nigeria. When choosing a tour, abide by the ethics and standards for ecotourism promoted by organizations such as the International Ecotourism Council. That means investigating a particular company to find out how and where its profits are spent and whether its practices benefit local communities and the ecological communities they explore. If on self-guided exploration, follow all rules in a particular protected area: It is prohibited, for example, to roam Okomu National Park without a guide.