Odzala National Park
| Odzala National Park | |
|---|---|
|
IUCN category II (national park) | |
| Location | Cuvette-Ouest Region, Republic of the Congo |
| Nearest city | Ewo |
| Area | (13600 km²) |
| Established | 1935 |
Odzala National Park is a national park in the Cuvette-Ouest Region of the Republic of the Congo. Founded in 1935, the park now covers 13,600 km2. It is known as "one of the most important strongholds for forest elephant and western gorilla conservation remaining in Central Africa".[1]
Location
As of 1996, the entire area of the reserve is found within the catchment area of the Mambili River, which drains the area towards the south. The region is quite varied due to the juxtaposition of several habitat types, including savanna, forest and rivers. The site is astride the savanna-forest boundary of North-Central Congo, allowing for a high biodiversity of flora and fauna, with species from forest, savanna and riverine forest. The area is densely forested in the northwest; towards the south and east the forest becomes more open with an understorey of Marantaceae carpeting the ground. In the south of the region an extensive forest-savanna mosaic is found, including gallery forests and dry and swamp savanna.
Two broad forest types are present: forests of hydromorphic soils, and forests of terra firma. The forests of terra firma are the most extensive, and may be further subdivided into closed canopy forests and open forests. The forests of terra firma are generally quite heterogeneous in terms of species, although patches of Lophira alata-dominated forest exist. In Odzala, both forest types of terra firma are classed as Marantaceae forest: that is, the understorey is an often impenetrable mass of lianescent or erect giant herbs in the family Marantaceae. This forms a thick carpet, up to 3-4m deep, giving the impression of a giant 'lawn' through which tree seedlings must grow to reach the light. In the open Marantaceae forests, the middle-sized trees are much less common than in a closed-canopy forest, sometimes giving one the impression of being an ant in a lawn, with trees so far apart that they are like a London park!. Data from transects in Odzala show that both tree density and basal area of Marantaceae forest is much lower per hectare than "classic" tropical humid forests of Central Africa. Marantaceae forest is thought to be a stage in the succession of the forest recolonization of the savanna. Several other forest types are recognizable at Odzala as stages in this succession.
The marsh forests are quite extensive, especially along the floodplain of the Mambili. They are generally relatively short, dense forests, often dominated by Mitragyna ciliata, and do not have the thick carpet of Marantaceae found on dry land. Beside the Mambili, patches of monodominant or bi-dominant forest occur, of Gilbertiodendron dewevreii and/or Guibourtia demeusei. Smaller patches of low diversity forest occur on marshy soils here and there, the most frequent of which are Raphia swamp, Xylopia forest, Phoenix reclinata patches and Pandanus swamp.
Biodiversity
The savannas have a low biodiversity, both in terms of plants and mammals. The mammal species that are truly savannicole or species of edge habitat include Grimms' duiker, bushbuck, and spotted hyaena, although the latter seems to have found a niche in the forest near marshy clearings in Odzala. Forest buffalo are found in large troops in the savanna, whereas they are normally found in small groups of up to 12 in forest. The savannas are being recolonized by forest, both from the existing forest edge and from small thickets originating on termite mounds within the savanna itself. Until the late 1990s, lions lived in the park and the savannahs to the south, but now seem to have gone - not only from here but from the whole of the Bateke Plateau, where they were once not uncommon.
Within the forest bloc, swampy forest clearings provide abundant digestible forage for herbivores such as gorillas, buffalo, sitatunga and Giant Forest Hog. In addition, some of these clearings have salt-rich soils, which attracts elephants as well as other mammals. These clearings are probably maintained by the action of the larger herbivores, and provide the rare opportunity of observing forest species which are normally extremely difficult to see.
Density estimates of apes and elephants have been calculated from the park. Comparison of these results and of data obtained elsewhere using the same methodology shows that Odzala has high densities of both of these species; the open canopy Marantaceae forests have a particularly high gorilla density, and closed canopy Marantaceae forests have a high chimp density. It is probable that the Marantaceae itself is an important keystone resource in Odzala, as has already been proposed for Lopé National Park in Gabon. The riverine forests are used by all eight monkey species which occur in the park, and four of these are never or rarely seen in forests of terra firma (Cercopithecus neglectus, Miopithecus talapoin, Colobus guereza, Cercocebus galeritus). The rivers and marsh forests are also important for other species such as hippo, chevrotain, sitatunga, Nile Monitor, dwarf forest crocodile and Crocodylus cataphractus, and the marshy clearings mentioned above are also very important for the large mammals of the region.
Human interaction
The human population pressure is fairly low in the region; the villages mainly are along the southwestern and northern boundaries of the Park. Nutritionally, the villagers obtain most of their carbohydrates from manioc and banana plantations, and protein from bushmeat. Most of the monetary economy of the villagers who are not directly employed by the conservation project ECOFAC revolves around bushmeat (capture and sale), and to a lesser extent, production and sale of local alcohol. Some collection, use and sale of other forest products (caterpillars, nuts, lianas etc.) is carried out, but economically this is much less important than bushmeat. More recently (post 1996) logging concessions are now active around all sides of the park except the west, and many people have found employment in the timber companies.
The major problems in terms of conservation for the region are elephant poaching (for ivory) and hunting of other animals for the commercial bushmeat trade. Elephant hunting was greatly reduced for a while with the implantation of a conservation project (ECOFAC), due to their antipoaching activities. However due to the rising price of ivory poaching has risen again. In 2011 the African Parks Network [2] took over management of the site.
References
- Main reference: MAISELS, F. (1996). Synthesis of information concerning the Parc National d'Odzala, Congo. Projet ecofac-Composante Congo.
External links
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