• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
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• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Bali-Ngemba Forest Reserve is located in the valley of the Alatening stream, south-west of Bamenda. The vegetation comprises a continuous band of submontane and montane forest, much of it degraded to varying degrees. There are large Eucalyptus plantations between c.1,350–1,600 m which are exploited for timber and fuelwood. Above 1,600 m there is a patchwork of natural forests and farms. Although the understorey of the forest is much cleared for the growing of coco-yams, maize, plantains and potatoes, it retains a continuous canopy. Patches of intact forests are found mainly on the higher northern edge of the reserve. The reserve is completely surrounded and, except on the most inaccessible slopes, encroached by farmland, particularly for the cultivation of arabica coffee.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. To date, 185 species have been recorded. Tauraco bannermani is common above 1,800 m, but has been recorded down to 1,600 m and breeds in shade trees above cocoyam plantations. However, the relatively high density of T. bannermani may be due to immigration of birds displaced by forest clearance elsewhere. Platysteira laticincta and Malaconotus gladiator also occur and, as most of the forest lies between 1,400–1,800 m, the population of the latter may be healthy. Phylloscopus herberti has been recorded recently. Five species of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome (A04, Table 3) and 17 of the Guinea–Congo Forests biome (Table 3) also occur; the former include Dendropicos poecilolaemus, the only IBA in Cameroon from which it has, to date, been recorded.

Non-bird biodiversity: Local reports indicate that Cercopithecus preussi (EN) may still survive, but probably not for long.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bali-Ngemba Forest Reserve (Cameroon). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bali-ngemba-forest-reserve-iba-cameroon on 22/12/2024.