Fewer than 500 West African lions survive. Most of them live in one park complex, and Benin holds a third of it.
The West African lion is genetically distinct from its cousins in the east and south, closer in fact to the extinct Barbary lion of North Africa. It once ranged from Senegal to Nigeria. Today almost the whole population lives in the W-Arly-Pendjari complex shared by Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Pendjari is the best-protected part of it. Since 2017 the park has been managed in partnership with African Parks, rangers have been trained and equipped, and elephant and lion numbers have risen. It is also one of the last places to see the West African cheetah.
Visiting matters. Park fees and lodge jobs are what make conservation pay for the villages on the park edge. Our North to Pendjari journey spends three full days inside with the park's rangers, in the dry season when the animals come to the water.
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