Dja Faunal Reserve (Réserve de faune du Dja, also known as Réserve de Biosphère Dja), located in south eastern

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

inscribed in 1987. Causes of inscription include diversity of

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

present in the park, the presence of five threatened species of mammal, and lack of disturbance within the park. It is managed by Dja Conservation Services (DCS), which is led by a conservator. The Reserve receives significant support for its management from many projects funded by international partners and supporters of conservation in Cameroon.

Geology

The

Dja River The Dja River (also known as the Ngoko River) is a stream in west-central Africa. It forms part of Cameroon–Republic of Congo border and has a course of roughly . Rising southeast of the southeastern Cameroon town of Abong-Mbang, the Dja Fauna ...

almost completely surrounds the reserve and forms a natural boundary which encloses 560,000ha.

History

The Dja Faunal Reserve was created in 1950 and became a

in 1987 and it forms an integral part of the dense rain forests that make up the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...

. It is one of the largest and best-protected reserves within the rainforest zones of Africa with around 90% of its area remaining undisturbed. The Dja Faunal Reserve is especially notable for the diversity of primate species it protects including

white-collared mangabey The sooty mangabey (''Cercocebus atys'') is an Old World monkey found in forests from Senegal in a margin along the coast down to the Ivory Coast. Habitat and ecology The sooty mangabey is native to tropical West Africa, being found in Guinea, G ...

mandrill The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males ...

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

western lowland gorilla The western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla'') that lives in Montane ecosystems#Montane forests, montane, Old-growth forest, primary and sec ...

and

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

. It adjoins onto the Congolese reserve of the

Odzala-Kokoua National Park Odzala-Kokoua National Park (or Odzala National Park) is a national park in the Republic of the Congo. The park was first protected in 1935, declared a biosphere reserve in 1977, and granted official designation by presidential decree in 2001. Odz ...

and the

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

ese

Minkébé National Park Minkébé National Park is a national park in the extreme northeast of Gabon. It covers an area of 7,570 km2. The WWF recognized it as an area needing protection as early as 1989 and has been actively working towards protecting the forest sin ...

to form the TRIDOMarea, an important zone for the protection of the African rainforest habitat of the Congo basin.

Fauna

There are more than 1,500 known plant species in the reserve, over 107 mammals (including

forest elephant The African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') is one of the two living African elephant species. It is native to humid forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It is the smallest of the three living elephant species, reaching a shoulde ...

African forest buffalo The African forest buffalo (''Syncerus caffer nanus''), also known as the dwarf buffalo or the Congo buffalo, is the smallest subspecies of the African buffalo. It is related to the Cape buffalo (''Syncerus caffer caffer''), the Sudan buffalo ...

and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

) and more than 320 bird species. There is also a population of

Baka Baka, baká or BAKA may refer to: Ethnicities and languages * Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon), an African ethnic group * Baka people (Congo and South Sudan), an African ethnic group * Baka language, a dialect cluster of Cameroon and Gabon * Baka ...

pygmies living in a relatively traditional manner within the boundaries of the reserve. They confer a recognized cultural value to the site and are permitted to hunt using traditional methods, although agriculture and professional hunting are banned.

References

External links

* For visitor information se
www.dja.cm

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre: ''faktaark''

UNESCO Fact Sheet
{{Authority control Protected areas of Cameroon Biosphere reserves of Cameroon World Heritage Sites in Cameroon Faunal reserves