Day Forest National Park
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Day Forest National Park, also known as Forêt du Day 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
Goda Mountains The Goda Mountains lie northwest of the Gulf of Tadjoura, Tadjoura Region in Djibouti. They rise to above sea level and are the nation's largest heavily vegetated area and is the second highest point in Djibouti. The name Goda in Afar means "twis ...
and Tadjourah Region of
Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...
.


Flora

Along with Mount Mabla, the Forêt du Day National Park is one of Djibouti's two remnant areas of closed−protected forests. It protects an important forest island in a sea of semi-desert. It has four dominant tree species: '' Juniperus procera'', ''
Olea africana ''Olea europaea'' subsp. ''cuspidata'' is a subspecies of the well-known olive tree (''Olea europaea''), which until recently was considered a separate species (''Olea africana'') and is still mentioned as such in many sources. Native to northeas ...
'', '' Buxus hildebrandtii'', and ''
Tarchonanthus camphoratus ''Tarchonanthus camphoratus'' (known as camphor bush for its scent, or leleshwa in Kenya), is a shrub or small tree, widespread in Africa south of the Sahel. Description The camphor bush can reach up to 6 meters in height. The twigs and younger ...
''. Doum Palms are found in the western part of the plain of Hanle, at the foot of Gamarré on the edge of the plain of Gagadé. The vegetation becomes more abundant with altitude. Thus the set of Day and its extension to the crest of Goda are occupied by an ancient juniper forest, ficus, mimosa, wild olive trees, boxwood, dragon trees, and other
native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is eq ...
s. This is the largest forest in Djibouti. The forest has a total area of approximately 14500 acres. The most valuable part of national park is 2223 acres large stand of East African junipers ''Juniperus procera'' which grows in the heights above 950 m. Junipers here reach height of 20 m, but many trees have died off in recent decades, while the boxwood ''B. hildebrandtii'' is expanding in their stead.


Fauna

Notable animals found here include the
Djibouti spurfowl The Djibouti spurfowl or Djibouti francolin (''Pternistis ochropectus'') is a bird species in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is critically endangered and found only in Djibouti, a nation in the Horn of Africa. This species is grayish-brow ...
(''Pternistis ochropectus''), a population of
green-winged pytilia The green-winged pytilia (''Pytilia melba'') is a small colourful seed-eating bird in the family Estrildidae. It is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, though it is more rarely seen in central, far southern and coastal western parts of the ...
that may actually be a distinct
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 appropriat ...
or
subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...
(''Pytilia (melba) flavicaudata''), as well as the mysterious and undescribed Tôha sunbird—Djibouti sunbird ('' Chalcomitra'' sp. indet.). All of these birds do not occur outside of and are
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 ...
to Djibouti, and except for the Francolin they have only ever been found within Day Forest. More widespread birds inhabiting the forest are Gambaga flycatcher (''Muscicapa gambagae''), Somali bulbul (''Pycnonotus (barbatus) somaliensis'') and Somali starling (''Onychognathus blythii''). The rare
colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...
snake '' Platyceps afarensis'' is also found here.


Conservation

The
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' ...
as a whole has been under long-term
environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scal ...
threat A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for co ...
. 88% of the Day Forest has been lost over the last two centuries, and more than 20% of the loss has occurred during the last 50 years.. Accessed 15 January 2009.


References


External links


DjiboutiWildlife.org: Flora and forestry of the Day Forest
{{authority control National parks of Djibouti Afromontane forests Tadjourah Region Protected areas established in 1939 1939 establishments in Africa