Upemba National Park

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Upemba National Park

IUCN Category II - National Park

Satellite image of Lake Upemba from 1993

Satellite image of Lake Upemba from 1993

location Democratic Republic of Congo
surface 11,730 km²
WDPA ID 1079
Geographical location 9 ° 1 ′  S , 26 ° 35 ′  E Coordinates: 9 ° 1 ′ 0 ″  S , 26 ° 35 ′ 0 ″  E
mark
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Upemba National Park highlighted
administration Congolais Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN)

The Upemba National Park (French: Parc national de l'Upemba ) is a 11,730 km² national park in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . It lies on the territory of the three provinces of Haut-Lomami , Haut-Katanga and Lualaba .

Landscape and climate

The park is 500 to 1800 m above sea level on the Kibara plateau and includes several smaller lakes, including the eponymous Upemba lake . Its western border is formed by the Lualaba River, part of the northern border by the Luvua . The plateau is covered by grass savannahs with adjoining Uapaca- dominated forests and open areas with little tree population, its flanks and the Upemba Plain of Brachystegia and Isoberlinia forests. Along many rivers that crisscross the plateau, growing gallery forest . In the incised gorges in the lower part of the national park there are swamps and flood plains bordered by genuine papyrus and Typha domingensis as well as Pycreus mundtii and Paspalidium geminatum , aquatic plants such as water lettuce , water hazel , Nymphaea caerulea , tiger lotus and Nymphoides indica . Forest patches dominated by Aeschynomene elaphroxylon and Hibiscus diversifolius , often 40 to 60 cm flooded, grow on elevated sandy areas in the swamp. The total area of ​​the park is divided into 64% forest, 20% shrubland, 7% grassland and 6% inland wetlands. Annual precipitation averages 1200 to 1400 mm, with more rain falling at higher altitudes than in the valleys. The wettest months are February and March. Large areas of grass burn during the dry season. The average annual temperature in the ecoregion is 24 ° C.

Wildlife

In the Upemba National Park live plains zebras , cow , horse and sable antelopes , waterbucks , hippos and still good elephant populations . The black rhinoceros , which used to be found in small stocks , has been exterminated.

The swamps, shallow lakes and rivers of this ecoregion are rich in aquatic fauna and are believed to have a high number of endemic dragonflies . The crab Thermobathynella adami lives in a hot spring in Upemba National Park and is believed to be endemic. There are 12 non-endemic species of mollusks in the ecoregion , however endemic mollusks have been reported in the Kalengwe Rapids. Mussels are abundant. The ecoregion's herpetofauna comprises 47 species of frogs , including six endemic ones, as well as the armored and Nile crocodiles . The occurring aquatic mammal fauna, consisting of hippopotamus , small-clawed finger otters , great otter shrew and mongoose , is similar to that of other Congolese ecoregions.

Birds

The Upemba National Park is considered Important Bird Area , justified by the presence of the following 33 species: black-backed barbet , straw head Barbet , Schuhschnabel , blackbacks Falcon ( Falco dickinsoni ), wattled crane , copper tail devil ( Centropus cupreicaudus ) Spatelracke ( coracias spatulatus ) Böhmspint , Lophoceros pallidirostris , rust coat Würger ( lanius souzae ) Rostbauch Meise ( Parus rufiventris ) Hirundo nigrorufa , Hirundo atrocaerulea , Mirafra mohair , Cisticola pipiens , Cisticola dambo , Camaroptera Undosa , Boultonlaubsänger ( phylloscopus laurae ) Eremomela atricollis , Rotohrsylvietta ( Sylvietta ruficapilla ), wedge-tailed -Glanzstar ( Lamprotornis acuticaudus ), Natal throttle ( Zoothera guttata ), Erythropygia barbata , Myrmecocichla arnoti , Miomborötel ( Monti Cola mohair ), Böhm-catch ( Muscicapa boehmi ) Nectarinia manoensis , Plocepasser rufoscapulatus , brown firefinch , Schwarzzügelastrild , Large Paradieswitwe ( Vidua obtu sa ), Füllebornpieper ( Macronyx fuellebornii ) and Black- cheeked girlitz ( Serinus mennelli ).

fishes

The fish fauna of the Upper Lualaba Ecoregion is not fully known. In 1976 182 fish species were recorded in the Upper Lualaba-Upemba system and its tributary Lufira . The predominant fish families are the carp fish with over 30 species, the Nile pike with almost 20 species as well as the African tetras , the Mochokidae and the cichlids that abound in the lakes and rivers of the Upemba area, each with at least 10 species. Fish of the genera Hydrocynus , predatory catfish , synodontis and schilbe are found in the floodplains . Small, plankton-eating microthrissa and small barbus species as well as fish-eaters such as the tiger tetra live in the main course of the Lualaba . Many tributaries of the Upemba Lake are home to small species of barbus , seasonally larger species of this genus and the genus Varicorhinus . The Lualaba-Upemba and the Lufira systems each provide habitat for different fish communities, each with at least 14 endemic fish taxa . Specialized species are particularly found in rapids , for example endemic cichlids such as Lamprologus symoensi , slender fish such as Kneria katangae and Mochokidae such as Chiloglanis lufirae are known from the rapids of the Lufira River . The species Oreochromis upembae , which only occurs in three ecoregions, is found in abundance .

History of the national park

The Upemba National Park was established in 1939. It is home to around 1800 different animal species, some of which were only discovered in 2003. There are also a handful of villages in the park. In the past few years the park has been attacked several times by poachers and local militias. On May 28, 2004, for example, the headquarters in Lusinga was attacked by members of the May-May militia. Some of the guards and their families were killed, headquarters was burned down, and the park manager's family was abducted. On June 1, 2005, the protectors of the park received the Abraham Conservation Award for their commitment to protecting biodiversity in the Congo Basin .

literature

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