Data Zone
Country/territory: Tanzania
IBA criteria met: A4i (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 25,000 hectares (250.00 km2)
Site description (2001 baseline)
The site covers part of Mwanza Gulf in the south-eastern corner of Lake Victoria, centred on the southern shore of a bay to the south of Busisi. The site also contains areas of papyrus Cyperus papyrus swamp.
Key biodiversity
See Box for key species. The only data available are from a 1995 waterbird survey. Numbers given are minima. The main roost-site south of Busisi held at least 15,000 birds. Numbers of Phalacrocorax carbo are likely to be seasonally higher than the 3,300 estimated and Phalacrocorax africanus probably exceeds the estimated 500 birds at certain times. No attempts have been made to survey the papyrus swamps and further work may reveal that species of the Lake Victoria Basin biome occur.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Lake Victoria: Mwanza Gulf (Tanzania). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/lake-victoria:-mwanza-gulf-iba-tanzania on 23/12/2024.