Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The site is located some 30 km north-west of the town Garoua, between the villages of Gashiga and Demsa, near the border with Nigeria. The site is bisected by the road from Garoua to Demsa, on the international border, which is intensively used for fuel traffic. The soils are sandy and the vegetation is wooded Sudanian savanna with the herbaceous layer dominated by
Hyparrhenia rufa,
Panicum spp. and
Pennisetum spp. grasslands.
See Box and Table 3 for key species. To date, 144 species have been recorded. These include
Musophaga violacea,
Galerida modesta,
Anthoscopus parvulus,
Pytilia phoenicoptera and
Euschistospiza dybowskii. In addition, one species of the Sahel biome (A03) occurs (see Table 3).
Non-bird biodiversity: The mammal Gazella rufifrons (VU) occurs.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
This site is unprotected, including by any traditional law and is, apart from those benefiting from legal protection, the only remaining wooded area in the North Province of Cameroon. It has hitherto remained largely intact merely because the area was uninhabited. Now, however, with new settlements in many parts of the Bénoué plain of people from the densely populated Mandara mountains, this site is subject to disturbance. The area is thus being used for grazing, food crops and cotton cultivation. Three major threats are firewood-collection, expansion of cotton farms and the installation of new villages. By January 2000, one village had been established on the site with consequent damage to the vegetation for a radius of 2 km. The site, however, retains the potential to be designated a forest reserve.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Gashiga - Demsa (Cameroon). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/gashiga--demsa-iba-cameroon on 23/12/2024.
