Gambella National Park

Gambela National Park is a 4,575-square-kilometre (1,766 sq mi) national park in Ethiopia, near the South Sudanese border. It is the nation’s largest national park.Gambella is located several hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa, Gambella was established in 1974, but is not fully protected and has not been effectively managed for much of its history

Gambella National Park has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Ethiopia. 69 mammal species occur in the protected area including African elephant, African buffalo, white-eared kobbushpig, common warthog, giraffe, hippopotamus, bushbuck, Nile lechwe, sable, tiang, topi, and waterbuck, cheetah, leopard, lion, mantled guereza, olive baboon, patas monkey, and spotted hyena.

The park also hosts herds of Bohor reedbuck, bushbuck, Lelwel hartebeest, oribi, reedbuck, roan antelope, and white-eared kob. The white-eared kob migration is Africa’s second largest mammal migration. In 2015, African Parks and the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority surveyed the park’s giraffe population for the first time, and estimated there were between 100 and 120 giraffes. Gambella’s giraffes were once thought to belong to the Nubian subspecies.

327 bird species, including seasonal migrants, have been recorded, including the African skimmer, black-faced firefinch, Carmine bee-eater, cisticolas, crowned cranes, Egyptian plover, exclamatory paradise whydah, green bee-eater, pelicans, and approximately 40 species of raptors, red-necked buzzard, red-throated bee-eater, storks, warblers, and vultures