Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The moist, fertile Shire lowlands are in the Western Zone. They are in the lower reaches of the wide Tekeze valley (at 600 m) between Enda Selassie at 1,900 m on the northern rim of the Tekeze gorge, Sheraro to the north-west and Birkuta to the west, near the border with Eritrea. Enda Selassie is c.200 km north of Gondar and 50 km west of Axum. The Shire lowlands are relatively under-populated compared to the rest of Tigray Region. They represent the easternmost extension of the Sudano–Sahelian zone. The higher, eastern section of Shire is on the western extension of the plateau where the terrain is flat to undulating. Towards the Tekeze and its larger tributaries, fairly deep valleys break the land, and several have cut through thick layers of red fossil soils which are almost sterile and support little or no vegetation. The lower western Shire lowlands, towards the border with Eritrea, comprise flatter plains, but with some higher hills such as Tsada Emba (White mountain).
The area supports a range of vegetation-types. On the higher eastern plateau, now mostly cultivated, wooded grassland thrives. Marshes with patches of tall sedges and bulrushes are formed in the shallow valleys where drainage is impeded. Forest patches are found above 1,000 m and comprise broad- to fine-leaved deciduous species. Most of the areas on broken terrain below 1,500 m are covered in
Acacia–
Combretum woodland with large trees of baobab
Adansonia digitata and
Tamarindus indica. Important species include the threatened African blackwood
Dalbergia melanoxylon, the economically exploited frankincense tree
Boswellia papyrifera, and the source of gum arabic,
Acacia senegal. Much of the remaining area would naturally be covered in edaphic tall grassland, with some patches of woody species such as
Balanites aegyptiaca. The Kunama people have long inhabited this area: they used to be hunter-gatherers until other groups recently moved into the area, and they then adopted a more sedentary, cultivation-oriented existence. The other traditional groups of the whole western lowlands are pastoralists; these include the Beni Amer based to the north in Eritrea, and the Benshangul and Gumuz peoples to the south. These groups bring large numbers of sheep, goats, cattle and camels into the Tekeze lowlands to make use of seasonal grazing/browsing. The flatter areas on both the plateau and the lowlands towards the Eritrea and Sudan borders are extensively cultivated, primarily for cotton, sorghum and sesame, and mostly by people from the highlands.
See Box and Table 3 for key species. The avifauna at this site is poorly known. A survey in 1992 recorded 152 species, including several species of the Somali–Masai biome, such as
Uraeginthus cyanocephalus and
Vidua fischeri. Other interesting birds include
Falco ardosiaceus,
Ptilopachus petrosus,
Pluvianus aegyptius,
Merops orientalis,
Phoeniculus purpureus and
Laniarius erythrogaster.
Non-bird biodiversity: A record of the snake Naja haje represents the first for Ethiopia. The forests and woodlands in the area support the endemic tree Albizia malacophylla malacophylla and the threatened African blackwood Dalbergia melanoxylon.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The Shire lowlands have long been used as an area in which to hunt large mammals. There are records from the Ptolemaic period over 2,000 years ago of hunting parties targeting elephant. This tradition was continued until the early part of the twentieth century, with hunting parties of highlanders visiting the area. Until at least the 1940s, in spite of the hunting, much wildlife persisted in the area. However, populations of the large mammals and the smaller antelopes and gazelle have now been decimated by habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting. The instability that existed in northern Ethiopia until the early 1990s, coupled with the ready access to firearms, has made it all too easy for people to kill wild animals. The instability also hampered plans to develop a Wildlife Reserve in the Shire lowlands. However, with the current peaceful situation, the Regional Government in Tigray is again very interested in establishing a refuge for the wildlife.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Shire lowlands in the Tekeze valley (Ethiopia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/shire-lowlands-in-the-tekeze-valley-iba-ethiopia on 23/11/2024.
