Black River Gorges National Park is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

in the hilly south-western part of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

. It was proclaimed on June 15, 1994 and is managed by the National Parks and Conservation Service. It covers an area of 67.54 km² including humid upland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, drier lowland forest and marshy

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

land. Facilities for visitors include two information centres, picnic areas and 60 kilometres of trails. There are four field stations in the park which are used for National Parks and Conservation Service and

Mauritian Wildlife Foundation The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit conservation agency working in Mauritius to save threatened endemic local flora and fauna. History The Mauritian Wildlife Appeal Fund was established in 19 ...

research and conservation projects. The park protects most of the island's remaining

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

although much of this has been degraded by introduced plants such as Chinese guava and

privet A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, sometimes forming small or medium-sized trees, native to Europe, north Africa, Asia, many introduced and nat ...

and animals such as

rusa deer The Javan rusa or Sunda sambar (''Rusa timorensis'') is a deer native to Indonesia and East Timor. Introduced populations exist in a wide variety of locations in the Southern Hemisphere. Taxonomy Seven subspecies of the Javan rusa are recognis ...

and

wild pig A wild pig may be: *Suina, a suborder of even-toed mammals, including: **Suidae, a family of animals that are pigs or pig-like, including the Suinae and more distantly related extinct Old World tribes ***Suinae, a subfamily which includes the ''S ...

s. Several areas have been fenced off and invasive species have been eradicated from them to preserve native wildlife. Many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

plants and animals still occur in the park including the

Mauritian flying fox The Mauritian flying fox (''Pteropus niger''), also known as Greater Mascarene flying fox or Mauritius fruit bat is a large megabat species endemic to Mauritius and La Réunion. Description The Mauritian flying fox can reach a wingspan of 80&nb ...

and all of the island's endemic birds:

Mauritius kestrel The Mauritius kestrel (''Falco punctatus'') is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines. It is the most distinct of the Indi ...

pink pigeon The pink pigeon (''Nesoenas mayeri'') is a species of pigeon in the family Columbidae endemic to Mauritius. The pink pigeon nearly became extinct in the 1970s and the 1990s and is still very rare. It is the only Mascarene pigeon that has not beco ...

Mauritius parakeet The echo parakeet (''Psittacula eques'') is a species of parrot endemic to the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and formerly Réunion. It is the only living native parrot of the Mascarene Islands; all others have become extinct due to human activit ...

, Mauritius cuckooshrike,

Mauritius bulbul The Mauritius bulbul (''Hypsipetes olivaceus''), is a songbird belonging to the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is endemic to Mauritius. Taxonomy and systematics The Mauritius bulbul was the type species of the obsolete genus ''Ixocincla'', ...

Mauritius olive white-eye The Mauritius olive white-eye (''Zosterops chloronothos'', often mistakenly spelled ''Zosterops chloronothus''(2007) Rare Birds Yearbook 2008. England: MagDig Media Lmtd, 208. .) is a very rare and localized passerine from the family of white-e ...

Mauritius grey white-eye The Mauritius grey white-eye (''Zosterops mauritianus'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is one of two white-eye species endemic to the island of Mauritius, the other being the rare and localized Mauritius olive white-eye. It ...

and

Mauritius fody The Mauritius fody (''Foudia rubra'') is a rare species of bird in the weaver family. It is endemic to the island of Mauritius. It is classified by BirdLife International as being endangered. It is also on the United States' Endangered Species ...

. The park has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

References

External links

Lonelyplanet.com
National parks of Mauritius Protected areas established in 1994 Biosphere reserves of Mauritius Tourist attractions in Mauritius Environment of Mauritius Protected areas of Mauritius Important Bird Areas of Mauritius {{Mauritius-geo-stub