Sambisa Forest

Sambisa Forest and Sambisa Forest Reserve are located in North-Eastern Nigeria. It was a game reserve in colonial times.^[1] It covers an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometers^[2] in Nigeria's states of Borno, Yobe, Gombe, and Bauchi, along the Darazo corridor, Jigawa, up to some parts of Kano State in the far north.^[1]

In 1991, the then Borno State government incorporated it into the Chad Basin National Park with a total area of about 2,258 square kilometres. This Chad Basin National Park also included the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands in modern day Yobe State. At the time, the Sambisa Game Reserve had leopards, lions, elephants, hyenas and tourist huts. However, the federal/state government allowed the place to fall into a state of disrepair as the animals died, the roofs leaked, weeds covered the roads, water stopped flowing, there was no power and the whole reserve became another derelict white elephant.

In 2014 it was widely suspected that the Sambisa forest had become a haven for terrorist group Boko Haram^[3] Information from the area suggested that Boko Haram fighters could be seen in the game reserve relaxing and training. Their women carried out the usual chores like cooking, laundry, etc. in the area and the place was like any normal Nigerian community. It had been speculated that the victims of the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping were taken into this forest by them;^[4] The Nigerian Army found the forest to be heavily mined. ^[5]

On 28th April 2015, four Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa forest were overrun by the Nigerian military who freed nearly 300 females.^[6] The females were not the missing Chibok girls. A further 234 women and children were reported freed near Kawuri and Konduga on 30 April 2015 and 13 Boko Haram camps destroyed.^[7]

References

Coordinates: 11°15′0″N 13°25′0″E / 11.25000°N 13.41667°E / 11.25000; 13.41667