W-Arly-Pendjari Complex
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How it came to be
W National Park takes its name from the W-shaped meander that the Niger River makes here. The Niger section was created by decree on 4 August 1954 and inscribed in 1996.
In 2017 the listing was extended into Burkina Faso and Benin, forming a complex of more than 1.71 million ha: the W, Arly and Pendjari national parks and four hunting zones across three countries. Its grasslands, shrubland, savanna and gallery forests hold about 85 percent of West Africa's savanna elephants and the only viable lion population in the region.
Since June 2020 the organisation African Parks has managed the Benin section. Armed attacks have grown in recent years: in February 2022 landmines killed eight people, and an attack in April 2025 killed 54 Beninese soldiers.
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