Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Regaining Lost Glory

Established in 1991, Gashaka-Gumti National Park, found to be the largest park in Nigeria, is located in the eastern part of Taraba and Adamawa states, bordering the Republic of Cameroon.

The park used to be known for all kinds of natural endowments including water falls, rivers, a thick forest, wildlife, different kinds of birds and insects where tourists from across the globe used to converge for fun and research purposes.

A renown instructor and resource personality in Africa on rangers’ training and park conservation, Mr Robinson Chingwelengwe told LEADERSHIP Sunday that Gashaka-Gumti National Park is the widest in Africa in terms of land scape, terrain, wildlife and natural inhabitants.

Chingwelengwe, who was found in the thick forest of the park, training rangers on how to conduct security of the area, took some time to answer some questions from our correspondent.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP Sunday the conservator of the park, Joseph Ntui said Gashaka Gumti national park remains Nigeria’s largest, most scenic and biodiverse national park, home to a wide variety of birds, fish, butterflies, mammals, plants and other unique species.

He said the biodiversity makes the park a living laboratory for research and experimentation.

He however stated that most of the wildlife  disappeared due to activities of poachers, illegal hunting and encroachment from farming activities which forced the animals to flee their natural habitat.

“We used to have cheetahs and lions here, but they haven’t been sighted in a long time, even with enhanced surveillance.

“The last time we saw a hippopotamus at the Hippo Pool was five years ago. Sadly, we now believe these species may be locally extinct,” Ntui said.

He emphasized that conservation in Nigeria faces challenges, largely due to a lack of awareness about its importance, adding that “many people still don’t understand the critical need for conservation.”

Ntui said the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the National Park Service and African Natural Invesstors (ANI) since 2021 is bringing back the lost glory of the park and improving the security surveillance within the park.

“ANI has significantly improved the park’s operations by providing both financial and technical assistance. Thanks to their support, we now have better training for rangers, more patrol vehicles, canoes and even a helicopter,” he said

Some traditional rulers in Gashaka local government area where part of Gashaka-Gumti National Park is located told LEADERSHIP Sunday that foreigners from the Republic of Cameroon have eliminated wildlife and several other species of animals in the park.

The monarchs lauded the intervention of Africa Nature Investors (ANI) in supporting the the national park with training of rangers and provision of a helicopter for surveillance to secure the park.

The first class chief of the area, the Lamido of Gashaka, Zubailu Hamamgabdo accused hunters of eliminating the wildlife in the reserve park, while HRH Joseph Maiyanga, the traditional ruler of Meisebe chiefdom,  host community of the park, said foreigners from Cameroon do cross in large numbers into the park to kill animals which have eliminated wildlife.

The Lamido Gashaka said, the destruction of the park was done over many years, eliminating the wildlife and destrucing the natural habitant of park. He said activities of bandits, hunters, grazers, poachers and farmers did great havoc to the park but noted that the coming of ANI since 2021 have restored the security of the park as people within the area have started witnessing return of wildlife in the park.

“Of recent, my subjects who were coming back from farm saw a Hyena chasing a cow close to the park, a development we have not seen for years.

Also, the people resulted in tree cutting in the park for firewood but ANI came and provided the host communities with stoves which has reduced almost 80 per cent usage of firewood and subsequently saved the trees in the park.”

On his part, the chief of Meisebe chiefdom, Maiyanga urged the government to take decisive actions against the influx of the foreigners into the park, adding that their activities are dangerous despite the security surveillance as being assisted by ANI.