Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The park consists of three rocky, volcanic islands lying about 4 km west of the Senegal coast, off the southern end of the Cap Vert peninsula on which Dakar lies, and the areas of sea between the islands. The largest, the ‘Iles aux serpents’, is about 15 ha. The islands are covered in steppe-grassland. Trees include baobabs
Adansonia, jujubas
Ziziphus, prickly-pear
Opuntia and tamarinds
Tamarindus.
See Box for key species. The 30 or more pairs of
Phaethon aethereus are the only breeding birds of this species known from a mainland African country. The islands harbour a varied avifauna including a breeding colony (400 nests) of
Phalacrocorax carbo (introduced in the 1980s from the Parc National des Oiseaux du Djoudj, part of site SN001), and breeding
Corvus albus,
Milvus migrans,
Galerida cristata and
Euplectes orix. Sterna anaethetus breeds on the islands and there are records of
Sula leucogaster,
Morus bassanus,
Larus cachinnans,
L. cirrocephalus and
L. fuscus.
Alaemon alaudipes, restricted to the Sahara–Sindian (A02) biome, has been recorded from the site.
Non-bird biodiversity: The sea-turtle Caretta caretta (EN) has nested on a small beach and the dolphins Steno bredanensis (DD) and Stenella coeruleoalba (LR/cd) have been recorded within the park. The tortoise Geochelone sulcata (VU) has been introduced to the islands.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The uncontrolled development of sport-fishing and other marine sporting activities may pose some threat to the National Park’s integrity and cause disturbance in the region of the park. Casual visitors to the park are not controlled and may cause hazards through lighting fires and disturbance to nesting birds.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Parc National des Iles de la Madeleine (Senegal). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/parc-national-des-iles-de-la-madeleine-iba-senegal on 23/12/2024.
