Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
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.
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).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Badiar National Park was created in 1985. Human pressure on the park is high. There is a sedentary human population within the park, as well as a nomadic one. The resident population clears vegetation in order to grow a variety of subsistence crops. Occupants of villages also hunt for subsistence and for commercial purposes. Transhumant pastoralists bring their herds into the park, particularly during the dry season, in order to get access to the river and its flood-plains. The domestic herds tend to exclude wild mammals from prime grazing areas and also from water sources. Fishermen and palm-wine tappers set up temporary camps along the rivers and live off bush-meat and fish for the period they remain. Excessive tapping is killing many of the palms.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Badiar (Guinea). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/badiar-iba-guinea on 22/11/2024.
