Zakouma National Park (French: Parc National Zakouma) is a national park, located between Sarh and Am Timan, in the south of Chad. Created in 1963, it was Chad's first national park, and has an area of almost 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi). It is entirely surrounded by the Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve.
Zakouma was neglected during the period of civil conflict, but a restoration programme, supported by the European Union, began in 1989 and is continuing in 2006. The area in and near the Park has seen significant reduction in certain wildlife species in recent decades. For example, elephant herds were substantial in number as recently as 1970 with an estimated population of 300,000; however, by 2007 the number had dwindled to about 10,000. The African elephant nominally has governmental protection, but the implementation practices of the government (backed with certain EU help) has proven insufficient to stop the poaching.
In 2006, Conservationist J. Michael Fay and National Geographic photographer Michael 'Nick' Nichols traveled to Zakouma National Park to document the danger poachers create for the world's largest remaining concentration of elephants. Their trip resulted in Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma.
Deep in the heart of Africa, Chad's Zakouma National Park is an oasis of sanctuary for the continent's surviving elephants — the last place on earth where more than a thousand can be found in one herd. Protected by armed guards, the park is a gem of abundance and diversity.
Yet just outside its borders, poachers lie in wait for the animals. When the perennial rains arrive, the elephants move toward better forage outside the park's perimeter, and into the poachers' hands. The hunters kill them for their ivory tusks — which fetch high prices on the black market — and leave the carcasses intact, apart from the gaping holes where the tusks once were.
New tourist accommodation was opened in the Park, at Tinga, in 2003.
The fauna of the Park includes 44 species of large mammals, and many species of birds. In 2005, a study estimated the lion population of the Park to be about 120 while the number of elephants inside the park was counted at 3,885.
Zakouma National Park has been nominated by the Chadian Government to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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