Nimule National Park
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Nimule National Park
IUCN category unknown - |
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| location | South Sudan , State: Eastern Equatoria |
| surface | 410 km² |
| WDPA ID | 904 |
| Geographical location | 3 ° 50 ′ N , 31 ° 30 ′ E |
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| Setup date | 1954 |
| administration | Eastern Equatoria (Ministry of Tourism) |
The Nimule National Park is a national park in the south of South Sudan on the border with Uganda . It is 410 km² and is 600 to 700 m above sea level. It got its name from the border town of Nimule . The annual precipitation fluctuates from year to year between 900 and 1800 mm.
The White Nile forms the eastern border of this park for about 48 km. Further to the east is the buffer zone bounded in the north by the Assua River and in the east by the road between Juba and Nimule. Through the Nimule National Park flowing Kayu , which originates in Uganda and flows into the White Nile.
The landscape is characterized by hilly, partly tree-covered savannah land. This is mainly formed by acacia , desert dates and the long thread species Combretum aculeatum . River forest is found along the permanent or seasonal watercourses. The Ethiopian palmyra palm and the acacia species Acacia sieberiana grow here . 16% of the area is covered by forest, 82% by bushland.
Uganda goblin antelopes , waterbuck and some other antelope species as well as buffalo , hippopotamus and crocodiles live in the Nimule National Park . The elephants were hunted by the local population during the civil war for their ivory, but according to park rangers, around 350 specimens have immigrated from Uganda. Many herds of other animal species have fled to the Sudd , a swamp area.
The endemic butterflies Capys bamptoni , Charaxes amandae , Chloroselas taposana , Lepidochrysops albilinea , Lepidochrysops nigrita and Leptomyrina sudanica could be found in the national park . The Nimule National Park is an Important Bird Area . It borders two other IBAs in Uganda, the Mount Kei Forest Reserve and the Mount Otzi Forest Reserve .
The Nimule National Park was established as a game reserve in 1935 and declared a national park in 1954. He suffered badly from poaching, which among other things resulted in the extermination of the white rhinoceros in this area. The 190 park rangers, many of them former SPLM soldiers , share 20 automatic firearms, a jeep and two motorcycles.
According to plans announced at the end of 2007, Nimule National Park is to be the first sanctuary in South Sudan to be established for ecotourism after the civil war. For this purpose, a hotel building from the colonial era has already been renovated.
literature
- Wally and Horst Hagen: The African national parks as habitats for elephants . In: Vitus B. Dröscher (Ed.): Save the elephants of Africa. Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1992, p. 233
Individual evidence
- ↑ Message from the African Wildlife Foundation (English)
- ↑ In Sudan endemic butterflies at Afrotropical Butterflies (English)
- ^ South Sudan to open first game park next year. Sudan Tribune, October 7, 2007