Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The complex of reserves centred on Dinder National Park is situated east of the town of Ed Damanzin against the Ethiopian frontier. The site includes the National Park, the buffer zone to the west and south, and the contiguous Rahad Game Reserve to the north. The park principally consists of a low-lying flood-plain sloping gently from the Ethiopian highlands with a few rocky hills in the southern corner. The Rahad and Dinder rivers flow north-westwards through the park. Tributary streams form seasonally flooded lowlands, known as mayas, in much of the area adjacent to the Ethiopian border. Along permanent and ephemeral streams the vegetation consists of
Hyphaene thebaica,
Acacia sieberiana, Tamarindus indica and
Ficus species, with an understorey of
Ziziphus abyssinica and
Mimosa pigra, and a herbaceous layer of coarse grasses including
Sorghum and
Brachiaria spp. Thorn-bush savanna (
Acacia seyal–
Balanites aegyptica) with tall grasses dominates in the north, while
Combretum aculeatum woodland is found in the moister south.
Nymphaea and
Ipomoea spp. are common in swampy areas and shallow lakes, while the open grass plains are composed of
Themeda triandra,
Panicum,
Hyparrhenia and
Cynodon spp. The mayas, which form the main source of water and green fodder during the dry season of November–June, are dominated by grasses such as
Echinochloa spp. The park has a mean annual rainfall of 600–1,000 mm, falling between May and November.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. There are few detailed bird records for Dinder. Given, however, the extent and quality of the habitat, it is likely that more species characteristic of the Sudan–Guinea Savanna biome (A04) will be found to occur. One species of the Sahel biome (A03) has been recorded (see Table 2).
Non-bird biodiversity: The following mammals of global conservation concern occur, or used to do so: Loxodonta africana (EN), Panthera leo (VU), Acinonyx jubatus (VU), Hyaena hyaena (LR/nt), Crocuta crocuta (LR/cd), Giraffa camelopardalis (LR/cd), Syncerus caffer (LR/cd), Redunca arundinum (LR/cd), Hippotragus equinus (LR/cd), Kobus ellipsiprymnus (LR/cd), Tragelaphus strepsiceros (LR/cd), Damaliscus lunatus (LR/cd), Ourebia ourebi (LR/cd) and Gazella rufifrons (VU). The park provides only dry-season habitat for most of these species.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Dinder National Park (650,000 ha) was legally established in 1935 and extended to include a buffer zone (277,300 ha) in 1980. The core area of the park was designated as a Biosphere Reserve in 1979. The Rahad Game Reserve covers a further 350,000 ha. Much of the buffer zone is now degraded as a result of mechanized farming and wood-cutting for charcoal production. An irrigation canal from the Roseiras dam across the south-western buffer zone, close to the park, has blocked the wet-season migration of wildlife. Annual burning, carried out in part by nomadic herdsmen to make fresh grass growth available to their herds, affects up to 60% of the total area each year. Twelve villages exist within the park and there are large-scale farms around the periphery. Hunting pressure is high and the collection of firewood common. Domestic herds also graze within the park, nomadic pastoralists having been forced to concentrate on such areas of remaining natural habitat following the cultivation of much of the surrounding areas. In addition to creating competition for water and grazing, these domestic herds have been blamed for causing outbreaks of anthrax and rinderpest, particularly among
Syncerus caffer and
Damaliscus lunatus.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Dinder (Sudan). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/dinder-iba-sudan on 23/11/2024.
