Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
This site is called a sebkhet, or salt-lake, though parts of it have the character of a garaet or freshwater marsh. It is the lowest point of a major plain between Gafsa and Gabès, between the Djebel Orbata and the Djebel Hachichina, where steppe meets desert. In many winters it remains dry, but after wet winters it collects fresh water, like the other smaller depressions of the region (Bled Es-Segui), such as Garaet Fatnassa and Garaet Zougrata. Much of the lake floor is without a salt-crust and can be cultivated when rainfall permits. In many ways it resembles a southern version of Ichkeul or Kelbia, and has not as yet been affected by dam-building. The surrounding steppe is dominated by
Arthrophytum species and
Astragalus armatus. The shores of the sebkha support a halophytic vegetation in which
Arthrocnemum indicum and
Salicornia arabica are conspicuous elements.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. Populations of wintering and breeding waterbirds vary from year to year with precipitation. In wet winters, there are good numbers of Palearctic ducks (and even geese), including
Oxyura leucocephala (40–80), and
Grus grus, while in wet springs many waterbirds nest; there was a large colony of nesting
Phoenicopterus ruber in the last wet summer, 1990, when large numbers of
Marmaronetta angustirostris also nested.
Non-bird biodiversity: The mammal Gazella dorcas (VU) occurs but is rare.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Overgrazing and hunting of wildfowl are the main threats. Unlike most other flood-plain wetlands in Tunisia, this site has not been affected by dam-building. The site is unprotected, and it would be desirable to afford it some protected-area status as an outstanding example of a desert-edge wetland.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Sebkhet Sidi Mansour (Tunisia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/sebkhet-sidi-mansour-iba-tunisia on 23/11/2024.
