Kainji National Park is a national park in Niger State and Kwara State, Nigeria. Established in 1978, it covers an area of about . The park includes three distinct sectors: a part of the Kainji Lake in which fishing is restricted, the Borgu Game Reserve to the west of the lake, and the Zugurma Game Reserve to the southeast. Due to insecurity in the region, the National Parks Service temporarily suspended operations and research in the Kainji National Park in 2021; operations were also suspended in the Chad Basin National Park and the Kamuku National Park. History Kainji National Park was established in 1978 and is divided into three distinct sectors, the Zugurma Game Reserve, the Borgu Game Reserve and Kainji Lake. Since 2005, the protected area is considered a Lion Conservation Unit together with Yankari National Park. The park is owned by the state and managed by the Federal National Park Service (FNPS), receiving direct government funding. This means that enforcement actions against poachers can be pursued under national park law and not in the local courts. Geography The Borgu Game Reserve is mostly made up of savanna forest and has an area of , while the Zugurma Game Reserve is smaller, at . The two main parts of the park are separated by the Kainji Lake, a long reservoir. The Zugurma sector has no access roads and only the Borgu sector is used for tourism. The southern and western parts of the Borgu Game Reserve drain into the Oli River, a tributary of the Niger River, while the other parts drain directly into the lake via four small rivers. The Zugurma Game Reserve has little drainage; the smaller watercourses dry up during the dry season, but there are a number of permanent waterholes along the Oli River and elsewhere in the park. The Borgu sector consists of undulating hills with some quartzite ridges and ironstone pans, while the Zugurma sector consists of a low plateau, with soils derived from sandstone, much eroded in places. The mean annual rainfall is about , with the wet season lasting from May to November and the dry season from December to April. Flora The savanna woodland of the Borgu sector is dominated by Burkea africana, Terminalia avicennioides and Detarium microcarpum. Below the quartzite ridges Isoberlinia tomentosa predominates, and further down the hillsides on the relatively dry lower slopes are stands of Diospyros