Between savannah and forest, the W National Park extends over the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger on more than one million hectares. It represents the biodiversity of the region and offers travelers the discovery of the varied fauna of West Africa.
It is part of a transboundary natural complex of nearly one million hectares jointly managed by the three countries and protected since 2007 by the Ramsar Convention. The Niger part of the park, the W National Park of Niger, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 19963 and the complex has been recognized as a transboundary biosphere reserve since 2002 by UNESCO. In Benin, W National Park is part of the W National Park complex, which was designated a W (Benin) Transboundary Biosphere Reserve in 20011 .
The W name of the park comes from the double curvature observed on the portion of the Niger River that crosses the reserve4,6.
