Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The reserve is situated on the north bank of the Gambia River almost opposite Kiang West National Park (GM007) and extends from the river to the country’s northern border with Senegal. Bao Bolon is a freshwater tributary of the Gambia River that originates 50 km north of the international border and is a permanent watercourse in an otherwise semi-arid region of Senegal. The shallow valley of the bolon is bordered with extensive tall swamps of
Cyperus,
Scirpus and
Andropogon species and a few square kilometres of
Phragmites karka. Further from the channel are seasonal fresh/brackish marshes which, during the rains, are a mosaic of shallow pools and low-growing Gramineae and Cyperaceae. To the west of the Bolon are extensive, sparsely vegetated saline mudflats, shallow lakes and inlets of the Gambia River. On raised ground are islands of scrub and open woodland. Further south, within the river’s tidal influence, are open
Avicennia mangrove scrub interspersed with mudflats and, on slightly raised ground, meadows of
Sesuvium portulacastrum saltmarsh. Within the daily tidal reach of the river is one of the most extensive and intact areas of tall
Rhizophora mangrove forest in the country, cut by numerous inlets. Narrow mudflats border the inlets and the river. The reserve also includes a relatively undisturbed area of closed-canopy savanna woodland above a laterite escarpment.
See Box for key species. Most of the reserve is not well known ornithologically. The first complete survey, excluding the mangrove forest, was made in February 1998. The reserve is thought to hold more than 20,000 waterbirds regularly between August and December. It is certainly, measured by the number of waterbird species recorded, the most diverse inland wetland in the country. The open wetlands hold large numbers of herons, egrets, pelicans and Palearctic waders and, in addition to those species listed below, are suspected to be an important passage site for
Himantopus himantopus,
Charadrius hiaticula,
Limosa limosa and
Tringa nebularia. The site is of national importance for non-breeding congregations of
Anhinga rufa,
Pelecanus onocrotalus and
P. rufescens. Known or suspected breeding species in the
Rhizophora mangrove include
Gorsachius leuconotus,
Podica senegalensis,
Scotopelia peli,
Apalis flavida and
Elminia longicauda. The bolon is a flyway for large waterbirds and raptors. The latter include
Falco naumanni, several hundred of which passed through the reserve in a few hours in March 1994. In addition, two species of the Guinea–Congo Forests biome have been recorded; see Table 2.
Non-bird biodiversity: There are occasional records of Trichechus senegalensis (VU).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The reserve is managed by the DPWM and was The Gambia’s first designated Ramsar site (1996). The DPWM’s involvement has been to explain the purpose of the reserve to neighbouring villages and to discourage illegal activities. The reserve is used intensively by people from the surrounding villages and the Senegalese villages to the north. Rice cultivation is widespread. Cattle range throughout the open areas during the rains and early dry season. Later in the dry season large areas of tall swamp vegetation are cut for roofing and fencing. To date there are no plans to restrict rice cultivation, grazing or the harvesting of vegetation. The hunting of wildfowl and pelicans is not adequately controlled. The felling of mangrove has been discouraged with the assistance of staff from Kiang West National Park. The reserve is vulnerable to deterioration through the expansion of agriculture, grazing and hunting.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bao Bolon Wetland Reserve (Gambia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bao-bolon-wetland-reserve-iba-gambia on 27/12/2024.
