Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
This area is on the western edge of the Afar depression at the bottom of the Ankober escarpment. Aliyu Amba is a small town situated in Ankober Wereda. Dulecha is the Wereda capital of Zone 3 in Afar, 38 km from Ankober. The Melka Jebdu river flows between the two towns, 3 km from Aliyu Amba, with the area of importance being where the river runs alongside and then crosses the road. The Gachani and Dulecha rivers also cross this area. The main vegetation should be
Acacia-dominated woodland, but the site is highly degraded with only a few bushes, strips of grass and farm plots. Even the riverine forest has been reduced to patches.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. This site supports a small, but apparently stable population of
Serinus flavigula. Little is known of the ecology or distribution of this species nor whether the population at this site is contiguous with that on Fantalle mountain in Awash National Park (site ET028). Aliyu Amba–Dulecha is home to at least 15 Somali–Masai biome species, and six Afrotropical Highlands biome species, as well two species of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome; see Table 3.
Cercomela dubia and
Petronia brachydactyla have been found nearby at slightly lower altitudes and may occur in suitable habitat at this site.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
According to local information, no protection measures were taken in the past or have been proposed. The woodland is under high threat from fire for clearing and conversion to farmland. The wetlands of Dulecha are already under maize cultivation supplemented with irrigation. The riverine forests found along the banks of the rivers are potentially rich for bird species, although increased pressure from use by local people have reduced them to small patches.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Aliyu Amba - Dulecha (Ethiopia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/aliyu-amba--dulecha-iba-ethiopia on 26/11/2024.
