Current view: Text account
Site description (2005 baseline):
Site location and context
It lies within the forest/savanna transition zone. The dominant vegetation is a rather uniform type of dry Borassus-Combretum woodland; several rocky hills in the west bear some dry deciduous forest or transition woodland. There are several broad galleries of dry semi-evergreen rain forest crossing the reserve from north to south.
While savanna woodlands are rather poor (with only seven Sudanian biome endemics), the forest avifauna is surprisingly rich, with at least 36 Guineo-Congolian endemics (Appendix 1). Some of these were previously unknown from Ghana east of the Volta, e.g. Dryotriorchis spectabilis and the rail Himantornis haematopus (both discovered later in 2005 at Kyabobo), the latter being unexpectedly common in dry Diospyros mespiliformis forest. The bee-eater Merops malimbicus is a localized Guineo-Congolian species which is particularly common at Kalakpa; it is not yet known to breed in Ghana but there is circumstantial evidence that it might do so in the Kalakpa area. Further investigation is needed.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The main problem is in the existence of several villages in the reserve, especially one large village in the centre. Yet the main galleries of forest remain largely untouched and density of small game in the west (away from villages) is high, including large numbers of Cephalophus maxwelli (LR/nt), C. rufilatus (LR/cd), and several groups of Colobus vellerosus (VU).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kalakpa Resource Reserve (Ghana). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kalakpa-resource-reserve-iba-ghana on 22/11/2024.
