Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
A large semi-arid southern Kalahari ecosystem in south-west Botswana, formerly the Gemsbok National Park, contiguous with the South African Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park (from 20°00’E to 22°10’E and from 24°10’S to 26°30’S). The park comprises vast areas of dunes and sandy flats covered by open shrub or tree savanna. There are calcrete outcrops with sparse shrubby vegetation and riverbeds and pans, seasonally inundated depressions, dominated by open grassland. The Mabuasehube area (a former Game Reserve) contains an abundance of pans. The most frequent trees include
Acacia and
Boscia. Amongst the many shrubs,
Grewia,
Rhizogum,
Zygophyllum,
Ehretia,
Indigofera,
Salsola,
Hermanna,
Asparagus and
Lycium are common. There is limited tourism in the Mabuasehube area, although the Department of Wildlife and National Parks plans to open up some routes within the main park area, towards the Nossob river.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. The park supports large populations of many of the species restricted to the Kalahari–Highveld biome. It also has very healthy populations of
Struthio camelus and
Ardeotis kori and of regionally threatened raptors such as
Trigonoceps occipitalis and
Terathopius ecaudatus. Falco chicquera is common. However, whilst the Nossob river valley has been well covered, and the
Mabuasehube area is regularly visited by ornithologists, the birds of much of the former Gemsbok National Park within Botswana are poorly surveyed. The population sizes of
Falco naumanni and
Circus macrourus within the park are unknown.
Non-bird biodiversity: The park supports important populations of large ungulates.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The former Mabuasehube Game Reserve in the east of the park was recently amalgamated with the former Gemsbok National Park, which was first established in 1937. More recently, the Kgalakgadi Transfrontier Park has been created through the joint management and development of Gemsbok National Park in Botswana and the Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park in South Africa. A Transfrontier Management Committee, formed in 1993 and comprising the DWNP in Botswana and the National Parks Board in South Africa, has supervised the preparation of a management plan for the park. This plan was produced in September 1995. Its main objectives are to preserve the biological diversity of the southern Kalahari ecosystem, with predators and seasonal movements of large herbivores receiving priority; to realize economic returns from the park; to provide educational and interpretative facilities for visitors; to provide facilities and opportunities for research and monitoring to improve understanding of the physical processes of the Kalahari ecosystem; and to reduce the less desirable impacts of existing and potential land-use conflicts between the park and neighbouring communities.Deliberate or accidental fires, which destroy large trees along riverbeds, are undesirable; the impact of frequent fires is little known but is considered detrimental and one study showed that a single widespread fire damaged half of, and killed about a third of, riparian
Acacia trees, damage being greatest to mature trees. Increasing human settlements around the periphery, exacerbated by boreholes, interfere with the migrations of ungulates and prevent access by game to natural water-sources. They also lead to encroachment by domestic livestock into the park, and consequent damage to vegetation, and to conflicts with predators which kill livestock. The invasion of non-native plant species, including trees
of
Prosopis,
Schinus and
Rhus, and herbs of
Argemone and
Nicotiana, are a localized problem that adversely affects native vegetation. Feral cats
Felis catus, and other free-ranging domestic animals which establish feral populations or transmit diseases to wildlife, are a further problem. Poaching in the park and over-hunting of game in Wildlife Management Areas may be contributing to declining game populations.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kgalakgadi Transfrontier Park (Botswana). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kgalakgadi-transfrontier-park-iba-botswana on 22/11/2024.
