Data Zone
Country/territory: Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
IBA criteria met: A3 (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 492,000 ha
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2011 | not assessed | high | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
Garamba is large area of mainly densely wooded savanna, with gallery forest and papyrus marshes, situated in north-eastern DR Congo, on the border with Sudan. The landscape is undulating and the park lies on the watershed between the Nile and the Congo rivers and is drained by many rivers, of which the Dungu, the Aka and the Garamba are the most important. The park has the only centre in the world for the domestication of the African Elephant Loxodonta africana, which started in 1901. Mean annual rainfall is around 1,500 mm with the rainy season extending from April to November.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 3 for key species. There has been no systematic survey of Garamba. Gallinago media has been recorded. The park contains the only protected area in the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome in the country. In addition, five species of the Guinea–Congo Forests biome and one of the Lake Victoria Basin biome have been recorded (see Table 3).
Non-bird biodiversity: The park holds some 130 species of mammal, amongst which is the last surviving population of Ceratotherium simum cottoni (CR). Other species of interest include Loxodonta africana (EN) (unique in that it represents an intermediary form in the cline between the forest and savanna subspecies) and Pan troglodytes (EN).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Garamba National Park (Congo, The Democratic Republic of the). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/garamba-national-park-iba-congo-the-democratic-republic-of-the on 22/11/2024.