Yankari game reserve came to existence because of Mallam Mohammed Ngurima wali of Borno who visited Sudan and sited a lot of species at the River Nile valley. He became amazed and decides to look for a place that have such species in Nigeria, he set up a committee in search of the place. Yankari was part of the place that the committee was send to go for observation which at the end Yankari was chosen as the first premier game reserve in west Africa.
The game reserve was established in 1956 and became a commercial center for tourist in 1962 and up till date. The game reserve lie on the guinea and Sudan savanna, that’s why Yankari have two different types of vegetation. yankari game reserve covers area of 2244.10 square kilometers with different kinds species of wild animals such as 26 different species of Fish, 17 different species of reptiles, 7 amphibians, 52 spices of mammals, 350 species of birds. 130 of the birds are familiar with environment and 50 species of birds are migrants.
Since the development of Yankari it was maintained by some NGOs who contributed towards the development of the game reserve under the regime of the federal government. The Voluntary service organization (VSO) came to Yankari and help in the awareness of illegal purchasers as a comprehensive design along the communities, the
Ambeel's World 