Data Zone
Country/territory: Guinea
IBA criteria met: A1, A2, A3 (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 116,170 hectares (1,161.70 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2001 | not assessed | medium | low |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
The Massif du Ziama Biosphere Reserve forms part of the Guinea Highlands in the south-east of the country, situated 40 km south-east of the town of Macenta and 100 km north-west of Nzérékoré. Part of the western boundary is contiguous with the Wonegizi mountains in Liberia (IBA LR002). Much of the terrain is extremely rugged. The whole area was forested originally, but primary forest now remains only in the remote upland parts of the south-west, next to the Liberian border. Most of the remainder, including the valleys, is now secondary forest, dominated by Parinari and Erythrophleum spp. There are also areas of swamp and of wooded savanna on lateritic outcrops of the high plateaux. The core zone of the reserve covers 60,000 ha, outside of which is a buffer zone. Annual rainfall is in the range 1,700–2,000 mm.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. The reserve has an extremely rich avifauna with some 287 bird species recorded. In addition to those listed below, there are reports that Agelastes meleagrides may occur or, at least, that it used to do so—it is known to local hunters. There is also one unconfirmed sighting of both Lamprotornis cupreocauda and of Malimbus ballmanni, although the presence of the latter seems improbable from what is known of its distribution in Liberia.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals which occur, or which used to do so, include Loxodonta africana (EN), Cercopithecus diana (VU), Procolobus badius (LR/nt), Procolobus verus (LR/nt), Colobus polykomos (LR/nt), Cercocebus atys (LR/nt), Pan troglodytes (EN), Papio papio (LR/nt), Cephalophus dorsalis (LR/nt), Cephalophus jentinck (VU), Cephalophus niger (LR/nt), Cephalophus sylvicultor (LR/nt), Tragelaphus euryceros (LR/nt), Hyemoschus aquaticus (DD), Neotragus pygmaeus (LR/nt), Hexaprotodon liberiensis (VU) and Hylochoerus meinertzhageni (VU).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Massif du Ziama (Guinea). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/massif-du-ziama-iba-guinea on 23/12/2024.