Djoudj National Bird Park

Abstract

Djoudj National Bird Park is an area of 16,000ha adjacent to the Diawling National Park in Mauritania along the Senegal River. Created in 1971, the park was declared a Ramsar site in 1980 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. Djoudj is part of a network of wetlands in West Africa south of the Sahara. The different sites (Banc d'Arguin National Park and Diawling National Park in Mauritania; and Djoudj National Park, Trois Marigots, Ndiael, Marigot of Rosso, the Gueumbeul Reserve, the Langue de Barbarie in Senegal) are interconnected by the erratic movements of their migratory birds. This western network of wetlands is ecologically connected to the Inner Niger Delta. For example, the Lesser Flamingo, Phoenicopterus minor, is typically seen in the Senegal Delta at the beginning of the migratory period (November-January) and in the Inner Niger Delta when the climatic and related food conditions change at the end of their migratory period (February-March). This is the reason why the conservation and management of this network should be undertaken from a global perspective rather than in isolation.