Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The Gezira is a large area of flood-plain between the Blue and White Niles to the south of Khartoum. The area is intensively farmed and—particularly along the western bank of the Blue Nile south-eastwards to the town of Wad Medani and beyond—is criss-crossed with networks of irrigation channels.
See Box for key species. The site is important for wintering and passage waterbirds. It is likely that at least 20,000 waterbirds occur during most northern winters. Counts of 1,000
Anas querquedula, 3,000
Philomachus pugnax and 1,000
Glareola pratincola were made at single localities during the winters of 1959–1962. Other counts include up to 2,000
Ciconia ciconia. Birds forage widely across the grass plains while some congregate in large roosts, particularly on sandbanks in the Blue Nile at Wad Medani.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The site is intensely cultivated. Although the site is important despite, or perhaps because of, current land-use practices, there are some threats. These include excessive disturbance, hunting and increased use of pesticides.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Gezira (Sudan). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/gezira-iba-sudan on 23/11/2024.
