• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Zakouma National Park is located in southern Chad, to the west of the town of Am Timan, straddling the Am Timan–Sarh road. The park covers a 3,000 km² section of a vast flat plain crossed by meandering seasonal watercourses, the larger of which are bordered by gallery forest. The vegetation is largely wooded savanna dominated by Combretum, Terminalia, Anogeissus and Leiocarpus spp., interspersed with patches of denser woodland. The park includes extensive, open grassy flood-plains, particularly in the south, which are inundated during the wet season. These plains cover 500 km² and are dominated by the grasses Vetiveria, Setaria and Paspalum spp. Average annual rainfall is 890 mm, falling in the period between late April and late October.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. To date, 226 species have been recorded from the park which include Circus macrourus and two species of the Sahel biome (see Table 2). The site is also said to hold large numbers of pelicans, but no systematic waterbird counts have been made.

Non-bird biodiversity: The following species of threatened mammal occur: Acinonyx jubatus (VU), Panthera leo (VU), Lycaon pictus (EN), Loxodonta africana (EN) and Gazella rufifrons (VU).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Zakouma National Park (Chad). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/zakouma-national-park-iba-chad on 23/12/2024.