Asir National Park is a national park in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Asir region The ʿAsir Region ( ar, عَسِيرٌ, ʿAsīr, lit=difficult) is a region of Saudi Arabia located in the southwest of the country that is named after the ʿAsīr tribe. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,211,875 (2017). It is ...

. It was established in 1981.

Geography

Asir National Park covers an area of 6490.7 km². It extends from

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

coast to the mountains, and includes both marine and terrestrial areas. The park includes a portion of the

Tihamah Tihamah or Tihama ( ar, تِهَامَةُ ') refers to the Red Sea coastal plain of the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb. Etymology Tihāmat is the Proto-Semitic language's term for 'sea'. Tiamat (or Tehom, in mas ...

coastal plain, foothills underlain by granite and gneiss, the Asir escarpment dissected by deep wadis (canyons), and mountain peaks up to 3200 meters elevation.Fisher M. et al. (1998) Diversity and Conservation. In: Ghazanfar S.A., Fisher M. (eds) Vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula. Geobotany, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht.

Climate

The climate varies with the altitudinal range of the park. The coastal portion of the ecoregion receives less than 100 mm of precipitation annually, and has a mean annual temperature of about 29 °C. Rainfall occurs mostly in two periods, the late winter-early spring and summer. The higher-altitude portions of the park receive less than 250 mm of annual rainfall, and have a mean annual temperature of about 19 °C.

Flora

The park is home to several distinct plant communities. There are mangroves along the coast. The coastal plain is covered in sparse desert vegetation. The western foothills are home to Acacia woodlands and thorn scrub, including '' Acacia etbaica,

Acacia asak ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus nam ...

, Acacia hamulosa, Acacia mellifera,

Acacia johnwoodii ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus nam ...

Acacia tortilis ''Vachellia tortilis'', widely known as ''Acacia tortilis'' but now attributed to the genus ''Vachellia'', is the umbrella thorn acacia, also known as ''umbrella thorn'' and Israeli babool, a medium to large canopied tree native to most of Afri ...

Acacia seyal ''Vachellia seyal'', the red acacia, known also as the shittah tree (the source of shittim wood), is a thorny, 6– to 10-m-high (20 to 30 ft) tree with a pale greenish or reddish bark. At the base of the feathery leaves, two straight, light ...

'', and ''

Acacia oerfota ''Vachellia oerfota'' is a perennial shrub or tree which is native to Africa, Asia and the Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia ...

''. Above 1600 meters elevation, the Acacia woodlands transition to woodlands of ''

Juniperus procera ''Juniperus procera'' (known by the common English names African juniper, African pencil-cedar, East African juniper, East African-cedar, and Kenya-cedar) is a coniferous tree native to mountainous areas in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is ...

''. The junipers form stands with ''

Acacia origena ''Vachellia origena'' is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on ...

'',

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

(''Olea europaea'') ''

Nuxia oppositifolia ''Nuxia'' is a genus of plants in the family Stilbaceae described as a genus in 1791. It was formerly placed in the Loganiaceae and Buddlejaceae families. ''Nuxia'' is native to Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and certain islands in the Indian Oc ...

Maesa lanceolata ''Maesa lanceolata'', the false assegai, is a tree species that is widespread in the Afrotropics, including Madagascar. It occurs from the southern Arabian Peninsula, southwards to the Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of ...

'', and ''

Teclea nobilis ''Vepris'' is a genus of plant in family Rutaceae. It comprises around 90 species, mainly from tropical Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands and at a lesser extent Arabia and India. Species , Plants of the World Online (PoWO) accepted th ...

'' at successively lower elevations on western slopes.

References

{{Authority control Protected areas of Saudi Arabia Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna