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Outamba-Kilimi National Park

General Site Description: OKNP is found in the extreme north, about 296 km north of Freetown.  It lies adjacent to the border with the Republic of Guinea, in the Tambakha Chiefdom, Bombali District, Northern Province.  The two areas, Outamba (74,100 ha) and Kilimi (36,800 ha), that constitute the park are separated by a stretch of land 1000 km2 in size.  The vegetation is characterised by a mosaic of grassland, closed woodland and   gallery forest.  Whereas, Outamba has a predominance of tall grasses and woodland, and patches of closed canopy forest, Kilimi has more grassland and more open woodland.  There are traces of Raffia swamp vegetation and riverine grassland in both areas.  Outamba has a perennial lake, Lake Idrissa.  The land in general is agriculturally poor. 

The region is drained by several streams, which flow into large rivers of national importance such as theMongo and Little Scarcies at Outamba and the Great Scarcies at Kilimi.  Annual rainfall in the region averages 2032mm.  Temperature varies between 13-35 0C in the dry season and 18-32 0C in the rainy season.  Average relative humidity at 1500h for the two areas ranges from about 40% to 80%.  Outamba is found on Precambrian-Birrimian granite whilst Kilimi occurs on Precambrian unfossiliterous sandy and clayey sedimentary rocks known as the Rokel River series. 

Access and Facilities: The two areas occur along Sierra Leone’s northern border with the Republic of Guinea.  Kamakwie, 15km to the south, is the nearest town.  The main highways into the region cross the Little Scarcies river by two old ferries which occasionally break down, halting traffic for days, especially during the rainy season.  The park currently has no electricity or tap water system, but there is a well-organised camp with rudimentary, but decent facilities for visitors, including tented accommodation, cooking facilities and a visitor centre.  Wildlife Conservation Branch staff can organise guided tours, including canoe trips. Trails are marked and labelled and there is one viewing platform.  Rebels invaded the park during the civil war and destroyed facilities, but these are being rehabilitated. 

Biodiversity of the Area
Fauna: There are nine species of pimates in the area including four threatened species; Western chimpanzee (En), Red Colobus Monkey (Vu) is Black and White Colobus (NT) and Sooty Mangabey (NT).  Large mammals include Western Elephant (En), Leopard (Vu), Pigmy Hippopotamus (Vu), Water Chevrotain (NT), Maxwell Duiker (NT) and Savanna Buffalo Syncerus caffer (NT).

The total number of birds recorded in the park is 220 of which 158 and 175 species respectively occur in at the Otamba and Kilimi areas. The various species recorded included 11 (40%) of the species considered dependent on the Guinea-Sudan savanna that occurs in Sierra Leone. OKNP holds four near-threatened species and which are of global conservation concern. One of these species is Pallid Harrier is a rare migrant. The Lake Idrissa and river courses seasonally support a good population of wintering plovers, sandpipers, herons and egrets. 

Flora: The vegetation is characterised by a mosaic of grassland, closed woodland and gallery forest. There are traces of Raphia swamp vegetation riverine grassland. The dominant vegetation type is savanna and common plant community is moist savanna woodlands (south Guinea savanna) (Cole, 1968). The South Guinea Savanna can form different plant communities depending on the water regime and soil condition, including moist savanna (in wet areas), tree savanna (in dry areas) or shrub/grass savanna (on hilly terrain). The dominant plant community in the park is moist savanna, with trees that are fire resistant with gnarled bark and flat–topped canopy. The tree canopy can be dense or open. The dominant trees species include Lophira lanceolata Daniella obliveri, Borassus aethiopicum, Pterocarpu erinaceus, Parkia biglobosa, Cassia sieberiana, Vitex cuneata, Terminalia albida and Crossopteryx febrifuga (Martin, 1938). Grasses are also common and comprise Chasmopodium caudatum, Hyparrhenia rufa, Andropogon gabonensis and Pennisetum purpureum, which can attain a height of 3-7m (Cole, 1968). 

Management and Conservation Status: Outamba-Kilimi is the only extensive area of savanna woodland and grass under any protection in Sierra Leone. It was gazetted a National Park in Sierra Leone in 1995, following gazetted notices of 1974 and 1986. However, activities on the ground go back, long before these notices. Previous management by WWF, under the directorship of Dr. Geza Teleki and Peace Corp volunteers was in place in the 1970s until 1992.  Current management is by the Wildlife Conservation Branch of the Forestry Division. A project funded by the European Union to develop and implement an integrated management plan for the area, was disrupted by the civil war.  A number of wildlife officers are currently posted to the area, but are few in number and poorly equipped to man the entire park. 

Levels and Causes of Degradation: Several small settlements occur as enclaves within the park and are posing serious future potential problems in the management of the park.  Discussions with them revealed that they are not willing to vacate the areas they occupy mainly because of unfulfilled obligations by the government during negotiation for the establishment of the park. They depend entire on the resources of the park for their survival. 

Fertile areas are limited, and small portions of land within enclaves in the park are used for agriculture.  Most areas within buffer zones are used by adjacent communities for farming. Bush fires result from land clearance for agriculture and from honey gathering, affect community land and occasionally spread into park boundaries, especially on the Kilimi end of the park. 

There is evidence of woodcutting in some areas although the pressure is not high, simply because the wood is used for domestic purposes and the populations of surrounding communities are low.  Logging is mainly done for the construction of dug-out canoes. 

There was high hunting pressure especially for large mammals like elephants and monkeys in the Kilimi area before the war.  Poaching levels during the war are unknown, but thought to be very high.  Hunting was indiscriminate and widespread in areas that were occupied by rebels who targeted hippos, elephants and all species of monkeys.  Some of the hunters are thought to come from Guinea.  Before the civil war an anti-poaching programme, sponsored by the European Union, was supporting patrols and community education around the park boundaries. 

Fishing pressure is high.  The methods used are destructive and include small mesh nets and poisonous herbs, which may create ecological imbalances within the aquatic system and render the water unsuitable for human and wildlife consumption. 

Community Participation: Except for a few settlements, population densities in villages in the Outamba-Kilimi area are generally sparse.  There is understanding among communities about the establishment of the park, but there is very little involvement of community members in the management of the park and there is indication that they are not satisfied with the current situation.  The communities use to have representations in the Park’s management Committee, but this committee has not met for years raising suspicion that they, the communities might have been sidelined. 

There is high dependence of the communities on the natural vegetation for medicine and food.  Because of the distance to nearest town, the local people have to rely heavily on medicines prepared by traditional healers.  Most common diseases and ailments like malaria, dysentery, fever, headache, fractures etc., are treated locally.  .

Alternative livelihood and income generation options are very limited, thus the main means of livelihood is agriculture. 

Existing Conservation Initiatives: Two main conservation initiatives exist for the park.  One is a national chimpanzee status sensitisation programme funded by USAID through the Jane Goodall Institute in the USA and implemented by a partnership between CSSL and Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Programme.  The programme, which includes OKNP as one of its main areas of focus, seeks to raise awareness among communities about the status and threats to chimpanzees in Sierra Leone.  The other initiative is an elephant population and status survey at the OKNP, also funded by USAID and is implemented by WCB of the Forestry Division. 

Recommendations

• Development and implementation of a management plan for the area. 
• Enforcement of regulations of national park and natural resource management and use. 
• Improvement, promotion and regulation of community-based alternative income generating mechanism including bee-keeping, animal husbandry by organising training programmes for local communities. 
• Institute cross-border management of elephants as flagships for biodiversity conservation in the area, in collaboration with the Guinean authorities. 
• Increase support for the Wildlife Conservation Branch, including means of mobility and some form of defence implements (shot guns) for effective monitoring, patrolling and management of the park. 
• Undertake post-war assessment of biodiversity status, for birds, primates and other large mammals.  This is an issue requiring urgent action so as to establish current status of wildlife in the park.