W-Arly-Pendjari Complex

Across the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger stretches West Africa's most important sweep of protected savannah — grassland, shrubland and gallery forest threaded by rivers. The complex shelters the region's largest elephant population and its only viable lions, along with cheetah, leopard and the African manatee. Niger's W National Park entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996, and the listing later grew to embrace the Arly and Pendjari parks, the latter in Benin's far north.