Korup National Park (125900 ha)

Korup National Park is one of Cameroon’s rainforest protected areas gazetted in October 1986 by Presidential Decree N° 86/1283 of 30th October 1986. Located in the South West Region of Cameroon, it covers a surface area of 1,259 km², the southern part of which is nearly pristine. The park is 50 km north of the Bight of Biafra and shares 15 km of its Western boundary with the Cross River National Park, Oban Division in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Vegetations

Korup National Park is one of the wettest and most isolated remnants of the Atlantic Coastal Forest that once spread all the way from the Niger delta to Gabon (Gartlan, 1986). This forest is widely regarded as a Pleistocene refuge (Maley, 1991). Characterized by the dominance of large, gregarious Caesalpiniaceae species, the vegetation has been described as semi-deciduous lowland rainforest (White, 1983), with many large trees shedding their leaves annually (Chuyong et al, 2000).

Korup is dominated by closed canopy lowland forest with high species diversity. Species diversity associated with changes in habitat is low and variation appears to be largely dependent on soil phosphorus (Gartlan, 1986). The forest in the northern sector of Korup is a mosaic of old and recent secondary growth. The area adjacent to the Bake River between Baro and Ikenge is largely characterized by secondary formations.

Species

Some of the species commonly found in the northern part of Korup National Park include, Okoune (Coelocaryon preussii), Black afara or framire (Terminalia ivorensis), Palm tree (Elaeis guinensis), Ilomba (Pycnanthus angolensis), Emien (Alstonia boonei), Mepepe (Albizia zygia), African rubber (Funtumia africana), Dabema (Piptadeniastrum africanum), and Evoula (Vitex grandifolia).