The Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park is located in Bamingui-Bangoran, Central African Republic. Latitude: 8.0833; Longitude: 20.4667; Altitude: 456 and the coordinates are 9 0 0 degrees North and 21 30 0 degrees East. Above this is a map of the Central African Republic, with the national park in the middle towards the top, and the scale in the top right-hand corner.
It is a natural site, and it is a natural site because it was made and formed by nature over tens of thousands of years, and was then turned into a national park. It is partly forest, but mostly open plains or savannah. It has dark and light green leaves, with acacia like trees spread out. There are several rivers running through it, including the Bahr Aouk.
It covers over 1 740 000 hectares and is the biggest savannah in western and central Africa. I believe my site (The site that I have chosen) is worth protecting because it is home to a large array of flora and fauna, some found nowhere else in the world. It is also a crossroad for thousands of animals, including elephants, cheetahs, leopards and the critically endangered black rhino. The site is under serious threat because many of the rare and unique animal species are being wiped, and the western black rhinoceros, which was native to that area, has been extinct since 2011.
There are many reasons for this, including illegal poaching, by heavily armed hunters and destruction of the park by vehicles. Though there was an attempt from 1997 to start clearing out poachers after 4 staff members were shot and killed, it hasn’t worked completely.
The ideas I had to protect the park were to set up cameras at different areas in the park, and have them cover that area, and have different people monitoring each camera, and have a team of people ready to drive and detain poachers. I also had the idea to have people stationed along the border with a wall or fence or something, and not let anyone in unless they have special clearance. Along the wall there would be entrances for animals to leave, with guards stationed on each side so people don’t sneak in.
