Data Zone
Country/territory: Kenya
IBA criteria met: A1 (1999)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 1,000 hectares (10.00 km2)
| IBA conservation status | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year of assessment (most recent) | State (condition) | Pressure (threat) | Response (action) |
| 2022 | good | very high | high |
| For more information about IBA monitoring, please click here | |||
Site description (2001 baseline)
This area is an isolated basalt mountain with dramatic cliff faces that tower above the surrounding plain, Ol Donyo Sabache is some 30 km north-west of Archer’s Post along the main Isiolo–Marsabit road. It is often called Ololokwe, a name that refers to the general area rather than the mountain itself. Three-quarters of its circumference (c.14 km) is a sheer precipice up to 500 m high. The summit is a plateau of c.900 ha, divided in two by a small wooded valley that contains several springs. Around half the summit area is covered by dry Juniperus–Podocarpus forest, with numerous cycads Encephalartos tegulaneus. The steep cliffs are sparsely vegetated. The semi-arid plains below (at 1,100 m) are covered by bushland, but with many drainage lines that support some taller trees.
Key biodiversity
See Box for key species. Ol Donyo Sabache is one of the most important sites in Kenya for birds of prey. At least one pair of Falco fasciinucha nests here, and 61 other diurnal raptors and nine species of owl have been recorded on the mountain and its foothills. The mountain is a stop-over and ‘refuelling’ point for numerous Palearctic migrants, including unusual species such as Accipiter brevipes, Accipiter nisus, Falco cherrug and Falco peregrinus (race calidus), as well as Falco amurensis, Buteo buteo and Pernis apivorus. Raptors nesting on the mountain (in forest or on the cliffs) or in the drainage lines below it include Aquila verreauxii, Hieraaetus spilogaster and the regionally threatened Hieraaetus ayresii, Plomaetus bellicosus and Aquila rapax, Polyboroides typus, Terathopius ecaudatus, Falco peregrinus and (probably) Falco pelegrinoides, and Bubo capensis. Stephanoaetus coronatus nested here until the drought year of 1984. Up to 120 Gyps rueppellii roost and nest in a colony on the cliffs. The avifauna at the base of the mountain is similar to that in Samburu National Reserve (IBA KE033), while that on the summit contains an impoverished set of species characteristic of the central Kenyan highlands, including the restricted-range Cisticola hunteri. Regionally threatened species include Gypaetus barbatus (rare visitor), Polemaetus bellicosus (nests near the base of the hill) and Stephanoaetus coronatus (not recorded since 1984).
Non-bird biodiversity: The large mammal Diceros bicornis (CR) formerly occurred here, but the animals were translocated to sanctuaries in 1982. Loxodonta africana (EN) move on to the mountain from the plains during the wet season, and six individuals of Lycaon pictus (EN) were sighted here in 1995. Ol Donyo Sabache shelters a near-endemic plant, Streptocarpus exsertus, and many fine specimens of the rare cycad Encephalartos tegulaneus.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ol Donyo Sabache (Kenya). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ol-donyo-sabache-iba-kenya on 23/12/2024.