Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Table 3 for key species. To date, 144 species have been recorded. These include Musophaga violacea, Galerida modesta, Anthoscopus parvulus, Pytilia phoenicoptera and Euschistospiza dybowskii. In addition, one species of the Sahel biome (A03) occurs (see Table 3).

Site description The site is located some 30 km north-west of the town Garoua, between the villages of Gashiga and Demsa, near the border with Nigeria. The site is bisected by the road from Garoua to Demsa, on the international border, which is intensively used for fuel traffic. The soils are sandy and the vegetation is wooded Sudanian savanna with the herbaceous layer dominated by Hyparrhenia rufa, Panicum spp. and Pennisetum spp. grasslands.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity The mammal Gazella rufifrons (VU) occurs.

Management considerations This site is unprotected, including by any traditional law and is, apart from those benefiting from legal protection, the only remaining wooded area in the North Province of Cameroon. It has hitherto remained largely intact merely because the area was uninhabited. Now, however, with new settlements in many parts of the Bénoué plain of people from the densely populated Mandara mountains, this site is subject to disturbance. The area is thus being used for grazing, food crops and cotton cultivation. Three major threats are firewood-collection, expansion of cotton farms and the installation of new villages. By January 2000, one village had been established on the site with consequent damage to the vegetation for a radius of 2 km. The site, however, retains the potential to be designated a forest reserve.

References COC (2000a).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gashiga - Demsa. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 22/05/2013

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