Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
This site is located c.15 km inland from the Red Sea, immediately east of the Red Sea Hills, c.25 km north-west of Port Sudan. The focus of the site is a 500-m-wide riverbed in which a water-pumping station has been built to provide water to Port Sudan. The pumping station is located on what has become an artificial island, surrounded by the only permanent water in the Red Sea Hills. There is a small garden on the island, with lemon and guava trees and date-palms, which provide the only concentrated green vegetation in a large area during the dry season. The site includes an area of the surrounding desert which, apart from a few scattered bushes along the riverbed, is largely barren.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. In addition, the site is an extremely important focus for a wide diversity of migrant Palearctic passerines during August–October, with estimates of up to 10,000
Acrocephalus palustris being seen in a single day. Other species recorded, albeit in much smaller numbers, include
Crex crex,
Acrocephalus griseldis and
Emberiza cineracea.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
A large number of birds of prey, including vultures, have been recorded killed by the overhead powerlines, supported by metal poles, which supply the station’s electric water-pumps.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Khor Arba'at (Sudan). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/khor-arbaat-iba-sudan on 23/11/2024.
