Okomu national park, Edo.

Ovia South-West, Edo state, Nigeria.

Okomu national park Description

ABOUT

The Okomu National Park, formerly the Okomu Wildlife Sanctuary, is a forest block within the 1,082 km2 (418 sq mi) Okomu Forest Reserve in the Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State in Nigeria. The park is about 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Benin City. The park holds a small fragment of the rich forest that once covered the region, and is the last habitat for many endangered species. It continues to shrink as villages encroach on it, and is now less than one-third of its original size. Powerful corporations are involved in plantation development and logging concessions around the park, which also pose a threat.

The park holds a remnant of the Nigerian lowland forests that once formed a continuous 50–100 km (31–62 mi) wide belt from the Niger River west to the Dahomey Gap in Benin. To the south and southeast, the forest was separated from the coast by mangrove and swamp forests, while to the north it merged into the Guinean Forest-Savanna Mosaic ecoregion. Human pressure is not new. In the Okomu park, there is an extensive layer of charcoal and pottery below the forest, indicating that it was cleared and then regenerated over the last 700 years. By the start of the 20th century, the forest survived only in disconnected blocks, which were under intense pressure from human activity.

SERVICES

There are no services rendered here as the national forest is not properly managed.

 

BEST FEATURES

Okomu National park has a beautiful environment filled with all kinds of animals around the forest.

 

BEST TIME TO VISIT

Okomu National park can be visited any time of the year.

 

WHO CAN VISIT

Okomu National park can be visited by Tourist, Historian

SAFETY

Visitors must follow strict regulations to avoid degrading the environment. However, the park is threatened by large-scale illegal logging, the expansion of large rubber and oil-palm plantations nearby, and incursions by a growing human population involved in farming and hunting. Okomu National park is not safe at night as there are no security agents around the forest and one needs to be extremely careful.







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Ovia South-West, Edo state, Nigeria.

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