The park covers with a wide variety of habitats, ranging from the gallery forests of the Arli and Pendjari rivers to savanna woodland and sandstone hills of the Gobnangou chain. It is home to around 200
African elephants, 200
hippos and 100
lions. There are also
buffaloes,
baboons, red and green
monkeys,
warthogs, and various
antelopes, such as the western
hartebeest and
roan antelope. There are also
bushbucks,
duikers and
waterbuck. The park can be accessed via the N19 highway via
Diapaga (in the dry season also via
Pama). Arli National Park has several pools, such as Tounga where there is a
waterhole and two pools which are often visited by up to twenty
hippos. The park was earlier a habitat for the
West African wild dog (
Lycaon pictus manguensis), although this canid is likely
extirpated from the local area due to an
expanding human population, and lack of national protection. The Arly reserve is part of a complex of protected areas with the
Singou reserve, forming an
important bird area. Management of the park has been delegated to the Burkinabe NGO NATURAMA since 1993. The reserve has been designated a
Ramsar site since 2009 for the international importance of its
wetlands. ==See also==