Wildlife Photography Hides in Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the least-explored wildlife photography destinations in Africa — a vast country of 923,000 km² with extraordinary biodiversity that most international visitors simply overlook. Yankari National Park in Bauchi State is Nigeria's most accessible safari, home to one of the largest elephant herds in West Africa (100–150 individuals regularly gathered at the Gaji River), the critically endangered West African lion, hippos, and 350+ bird species. Cross River National Park harbours the world's rarest great ape: the Cross River gorilla, with fewer than 250 individuals remaining on Earth, making any tracking experience here among the most exclusive wildlife photography moments possible anywhere in Africa. The adjacent Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, managed by the Pandrillus Foundation, offers the world's best access to the Drill monkey — a brilliantly coloured endangered primate whose free-ranging family groups can be photographed at close range. The same sanctuary provides the best access in Nigeria to the Grey-necked Rockfowl, a globally sought-after bird with a distinctive bald head. Gashaka-Gumti National Park (6,731 km² — Nigeria's largest) holds the country's most important chimpanzee community in highland forest rising to 2,419 m. The Lekki Conservation Centre in Lagos operates Africa's longest canopy walkway (401 m, 22 m high) through urban rainforest — an ideal half-day photography stop for visitors transiting Nigeria's commercial capital.