Borana National Park (also known as Borena National Park) is a
national park in southern
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. The national park was established in 2017 and is one of Ethiopia's largest protected areas.
[Nigatu, Tesfaye. (2016). POTENTIALITY ASSESSMENT FOR ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN DIDA HARA CONSERVATION SITE OF BORANA NATIONAL PARK, ETHIOPIA. International Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Reviews. 3. 45. 10.18510/ijthr.2016.314. ]
Geography
Borana National Park is located in southern Ethiopia. It covers an area of 45,366 km2.[ The park lies at the southern edge of the ]Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...
. It is bounded on the south by the Kenya
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–Ethiopia border. It adjoins Chelbi Wildlife Reserve
Chelbi Wildlife Reserve or Stephanie Wildlife Reserve is a protected area in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region."Chelbi Wildlife Reserve". Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) Culture and Tourism ...
to the west, and Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary
Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area and wildlife sanctuary in southern Ethiopia. It is located in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region west of the town of Yabelo, having an area of 2,500 square kilometers and elevations ranging from 143 ...
to the north.
The park conservation sites are divided into multiple blocks based on their biodiversity, community, and environment: Yabello, Dida-Hara, Gammedo Danbala-Dhibayu, and Sarite blocks. The park is home to ''Booqee Sadeen'', three volcanic crater lake
A volcanic crater lake is a lake in a crater that was formed by explosive activity or a collapse during a volcanic eruption.
Formation
Lakes in calderas fill large craters formed by the collapse of a volcano during an eruption. Lakes in maars ...
s that were introduced as the main tourist attraction, including El Sod which is known for providing access to mineral water and salt varieties for the locals.
Wildlife
Flora
Most of the park areas are covered in dry bushlands, thickets, and grasslands which are part of the Somali Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets ecoregion.["Borana". DOPA Explorer. Accessed 3 March 2022]
/ref> The Ethiopian montane forests
The Ethiopian montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in eastern Africa. It covers the middle elevations of the Ethiopian Highlands in Ethiopia and extends into neighboring Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somaliland. The ecore ...
ecoregion extends into the north-central portion of the park and includes Afromontane regions, dry evergreen trees, juniper trees, and open savannas.[
]
Fauna
Borana National Park is home to at least 40 species of mammals. It is uniquely known for providing sanctuary for two separate species of zebras
Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...
that are found within grasslands and woodland areas: the abundantly rare Plain zebras and the endangered Grevy's zebras. Other mammals that are rarely found in Borana National Park include lesser kudu
The lesser kudu (''Tragelaphus imberbis'') is a bushland antelope found in East Africa. It is placed in the genus ''Tragelaphus'' and family Bovidae. It was first scientifically described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1869. The head- ...
s, greater kudu
The greater kudu (''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'') is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas due to declining habitat, deforestation, ...
s, black-backed jackals, Beisa oryx
The East African oryx (''Oryx beisa''), also known as the beisa is a species of antelope from East Africa. It has two subspecies: the common beisa oryx (''Oryx beisa beisa'') found in steppe and semidesert throughout the Horn of Africa and ...
es, gerenuk
The gerenuk (; so, garanuug; ''Litocranius walleri''), also known as the giraffe gazelle, is a long-necked antelope found in parts of East Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Litocranius'', the gerenuk was first described by the naturalist ...
s, warthog
''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly co ...
s, Soemmerring's gazelle
Soemmerring's gazelle (''Nanger soemmerringii''), also known as the Abyssinian mohr, is a gazelle species native to the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan). The species was described and given its binomen by ...
s, and Grant's gazelle
Grant's gazelle (''Nanger granti'') is a species of gazelle distributed from northern Tanzania to South Sudan and Ethiopia, and from the Kenyan coast to Lake Victoria. Its Swahili name is ''swala granti''.[Swayne's hartebeest
Swayne's hartebeest (''Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei'') is an endangered antelope native to Ethiopia. Two of the largest remaining populations are located in Senkelle Swayne's Hartebeest Sanctuary, Nechisar National Park and Maze National Park. It ...]
once thrived here but were extirpated from these regions. [
Similar to ]Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary
Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area and wildlife sanctuary in southern Ethiopia. It is located in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region west of the town of Yabelo, having an area of 2,500 square kilometers and elevations ranging from 143 ...
, Borana National Park provides multiple bird species that are recorded at least 280 species. Ethiopian bushcrows, white-tailed swallow
The white-tailed swallow (''Hirundo megaensis'') is a small swallow belonging to the family Hirundinidae and is endemic to Oromia, Ethiopia.Gedeon, K., Zewdie, C., & Töpfer, T. (2017). The birds (Aves) of Oromia, Ethiopia – an annotated checkl ...
s, Prince Ruspoli’s turacoes, and black-fronted spurfowls are four endemic species found within the park that are considered endangered. Other birds include ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...
es, short-tailed larks, Pringle's puffbacks, northern grey tits, eastern yellow-billed hornbill, Abyssinian grosbeak-canaries, vulturine guineafowl, Somali sparrows, black-capped social weavers, Donaldson Smith's nightjars, star-spotted nightjars, grey-headed social weavers, magpie starlings, little spotted woodpeckers, grey-headed silverbills, and tawny pipits are found within Borana National Park. [
]
Conservation
The park's area is established to help restore wildlife along with the community based on environmental recovery and ecological changes, which include repopulating zebra species and drought prevention. During its establishment, the area was formerly designated as a controlled hunting zone and was later redesignated as a national park because of its poor management. The park is administered by the Oromia Forest & Wildlife Enterprise (OFWA) of the Oromia Region government along with the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA).[. During its establishment, the area was affected by multiple threats, and challenging outcomes for researchers such as droughts, invasive species expansions, livestock overgrazing, and road collisions.][Bussa, B. (2022). Community Perceptions and Challenges to Wildlife Conservation, the Case of Borana National Park, Southern Ethiopia. Agricultural Science Digest.
DOI: 10.18805/ag.DF-455]
References
{{National Parks of Ethiopia
National parks of Ethiopia
Protected areas of Oromia Region
Somali Region
2017 establishments in Ethiopia
Protected areas established in 2017