Okomu National Park

Okomu National Park is a national park in South South Nigeria. It is part of a rainforest ecosystem that is the habitat for many vulnerable species of flora and fauna with an area of 200 km² (77 sq mi).

Understand

Okomu National Park is a 200-km² forest block within the 1,082-km² (418 sq mi) Okomu Forest Reserve in the Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State. It is a remnant of the rainforest that once covered the area and it is the last habitat for many vulnerable species. Because villages have encroached on its territory, as of 2021, it is less than 1/3 of its original size.

These Nigerian lowland forests at some point formed a continuous 50- to 100-km-wide (31–62 mi) belt from the Niger River west to the Dahomey Gap in Benin.

• National Park Service, ☏ +234 706 966 6450. (updated Jun 2021)

History

It was created from the Okomu Forest Reserve in 1935, and used to be known as the Okomo Wildlife Santuary. A review of southwestern forests in Nigeria in 1982 recommended preservation of the park. The state government defined the sanctuary in 1986, with an area of just 66 km².

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation took over management of the sanctuary in 1987, and extended it to 114 km² (44 sq mi) by adding a 1.6-km-wide (1 mi) buffer zone to its area. Also, the foundation assisted migrant farmers in the surrounding areas to help the villagers find alternative ways of living without encroaching on the forest.

Flora and fauna

The park has 33 species of mammals including the African buffalo and the endangered African Forest Elephant, although elephant sightings are rare. The roughly 150 species of birds that have been identified include Angolan Pitta, Grey Parrot, Wrinkled Hornbill, Fish Eagle, hawks, woodpeckers, Great Owl, Grey Hornbill, Cattle Egret, Black-casqued Hornbill, Yellow-casqued Hornbill, Sabine's Spinetail, Cassin's Spinetail, Black Spinetail, White-breasted Negrofinch, Chestnut-breasted Negrofinch, Pale-fronted Negrofinch and Yellow-throated Cuckoo.

Get in

Okomu Park is about 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Benin City. The drive from Lagos takes about 4 hours.

Renew Ventures Travel offers 3-day luxury safaris from Lagos.

See

There are two tree houses in the park, at Lakes 64 and 52. These tree houses provide a birdeye's view of the park.

The tree house at Lake 52 sits 140 ft (43 m) above the forest floor.

The Okomu and Osse Rivers and Arakhuan stream provide opportunities for sport fishing, and boat cruises.

The A.P. Leventis Centre displays artifacts and other materials and information about the park.

Do

At the Okomu National Park, there are fun activities tourists can engage in to make their stay worthwhile. These include:

• Treehouse climbing to get a full view of the Park's landscape
• Canopy walk
• Bird watching
• Fishing is equally available
• A walk around to see amazing animals

Eat

Restaurant are available to get a taste of the local cuisine

Sleep

• Okomu Eco-resort Lodge, inside the park. 12 chalets and 3 family apartments, swimming pool, and restaurant. (updated Jun 2021)
• Just outside the park entrance, there are chalets built on stilts, surrounded by big trees that are often occupied by Mona monkeys.

• 26.0 miles from Okomu park is Royal Marble hotel which comes with amazing features like free parking,free breakfast,free WiFi,free fitness and gym and fun activities for both adults and children the price ranges from ₦14,135 to ₦72,543

Stay safe

The Okomu National Park is a safe and serene environment for visitors.

Connect

There is coverage of 2G/3G mobile networks in areas of the park and its surrounding, but coverage of 4G network is not so reliable. Signal strength doesn't used to be stable all the time, so you might occasionally experience network outage for all or some of the mobile phone service providers in some locations. All major mobile phone service providers are operational but with varying levels of reliability and usability. Different providers networks tend to be more stable and reliable in different locations at different times.

If you are planning a visit to the park, like many other places in Nigeria, you should probably consider having multiple SIM cards, preferably for all the mobile service providers, since you can't tell which will be more stable and reliable at a time in your location during your visit. And if you will risk not having any of them, you might be better off not risking the MTN network, because, from indications, it seem to perform well than the others, though its rates may be high and its offers and services might be stringent, but you are less likely to be concerned of erratic voice and data connection compared to others.

Airtel is another service provider which is fairly satisfactory for all you might need to connect to the world, including rates and network stability. Of course, Glo (or Globacom) boasts of fast network speed for internet browsing activities, only that you might not be able to enjoy the privilege in some locations. And 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat) usually also performs well in internet browsing speed but with locational limitations as well, plus data rate is fairly higher.