Things to Do in W National Park

Mekrou River pirogue drift

A narrow wooden pirogue noses down the Mekrou. Water the color of burnt sugar slaps the hull. Hippos snort so close your ribs vibrate. Fish eagles drop sharp whistles from overhead branches. When the boatman kills the engine, only paddle drip and elephant grass rustle remain.

Tangama Ridge walking safari

Boots crunch on termite-crusted earth. A ranger names every hoofprint: Defassa waterbuck, tiny oribi, heart-shaped drag of a courting male lion. From the ridge, the Niger loop glitters like a dropped bracelet. Sun-warmed frankincense resin rises. If the wind turns, you'll catch the copper-wire scent of distant bushfire.

Koudou night drive

Spotlight beams skate across millet-colored grass. They freeze on a serval's satellite-dish eyes. The Land Cruiser smells of diesel cut with citronella. The guide clicks his teeth: 'Genet! Bush baby!' When the engine dies, crickets rattle the doors.

Tamarou hippo pool lunch stop

Spread a cloth under a strangled fig. The pool bubbles like a stew. Hippos surface, yawn pink caverns, sink with a lazy whoosh. Dust seasons your sandwich. A cloud edges over the sun. Temperature drops ten degrees. Water turns gunmetal.

Leraba forest hide photography

A timber hide overlooks salty marsh. Buffalo horns clack like billiard balls below. Violet turacos flash through fig canopy. The air smells of damp earth, then warthog mud stabs your nose. Mid-afternoon light slants through slats, striping your camera screen.

Campement de N'Gourma: stilt huts on the Mekrou bank where you fall asleep to hippo grunts.

Campement de Tangama: simple stone bungalows at park HQ, cold showers but cold beer too.

Hotel Campement Bénéna (Diapaga's best bet if you arrive too late for the gate)

La Tapoa Lodge (new concrete rooms, generator hum, decent mutton brochettes)

Community camp at Tamarou: pitch your own tent under tamarinds, shared pit latrine.

Bivouac sur Pilotis: sleep on a wooden platform feet above the flood line, bucket shower hung from a branch.