Site description (2001 baseline)
Badiar National Park is situated in the north-west of the country, immediately north of the town of Koundara on the international frontier with Senegal, where it is contiguous with Niokolo-Koba National Park (IBA SN016). The park incorporates a mosaic of savanna types and gallery forest. The principal rivers, the Koulountou and the Mitji plus their tributaries are bordered by depressions, some of them extensive, which support savanna grassland and which are occasionally inundated. In the eastern, drier part of the park the habitat is scrub woodland dominated by Combretum, Terminalia and Gardenia spp., Hymenocardia acida, Piliostigma thonningii, Burkea africana, Parinari sp., Bombax costatum, Hexalobus sp. and Pterocarpus erinaceus. Bowé are found throughout but are particularly common in the east, where they are often associated with bamboo thickets and dense stands of Afzelia africana and Anthonotha sp. Wooded savanna and open forest characterize western parts, where the soils are better. The dominant trees are Pterocarpus erinaceus, Afzelia africana, Danniellia oliveri, Burkea africana, Lannea acida and Terminalia laxiflora. There are also patches of Acacia seyal on areas of hydromorphic soils, giving a more Sahelian appearance. Palms occur along some of the watercourses while along the Koulountou river there are patches of gallery forest, extremely dense in places. There are a number of permanent wetlands in depressions. The average annual rainfall is 1,000–1,500 mm, mostly falling from June to October.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 3 for key species. The park has yet to be thoroughly surveyed.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals which occur, or used to do so, include Loxodonta africana (EN) (estimated population 1,000), Tragelaphus derbianus (LR/nt), Lycaon pictus (EN) and Papio papio (LR/nt).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Badiar (Guinea). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/badiar-iba-guinea on 23/12/2024.