The

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

of Gouraya ( ar, الحديقة الوطنية قورايا) is one of the

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

national parks of Algeria National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. It is located in

Béjaïa Province The Béjaïa Province ( Kabyle: ''Tawilayt n Bgayet''; ar, ولاية بجاية, Latn, ar, Wilāyat Bijāyah; french: wilaya de Béjaïa or ) is a province of Algeria in the Kabylie region. The province's capital city is Béjaïa, the terminus ...

, near the shrine of Sidi Touati.

History

The park became an Algerian National Park in 1984, and has been

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 ...

-recognized as a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

in 2004.

Description

The park owes its name to the Gouraya Mountain (altitude 660m) located within the park's boundaries.Gouraya National Park - Biodiversity at its Best
''Algeria.com'' The ground elevation in the park oscillates between -135m and 660m. There is also a lake, the Lake Mézaïa.Biosphere Reserve Information
''Unesco.org'', 3 April 2006 The park is located on a calcaro-dolomitic ground.K. Rebbas, Errol Véla
Approche phytosociologique du Parc National de Gouraya (Béjaïa, Algérie)
''Inra.fr'', 2011 The park is north-east of

Béjaïa Béjaïa (; ; ar, بجاية‎, Latn, ar, Bijāya, ; kab, Bgayet, Vgayet), formerly Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean port city and commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Béjaïa is ...

, close to the city. The park includes many

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

es and

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

s, which make it a

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

destination for many Algerians.

Population

The permanent population in the Gouraya National Park is of Berber origins, 1,655 inhabitants across 13 villages.

Wildlife

The park is home to a wide variety of

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

, including

Barbary macaque The Barbary macaque (''Macaca sylvanus''), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar. It is the type species of the ...

s and

jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

s who live in the forests in this park. The Barbary macaque is a

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

with a very restricted range in portions of northwestern

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and disjunctively in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. In 2011, the French Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique led a phytosociological study which concluded there were 7 vegetation groups belonging to 4 phytosociological classes: *''Quercetea ilicis'' Braun-Blanquet (1947) *''Querco-Fagetea'' Braun-Blanquet & Vlieg (1937) *''Crithmo-limonielea'' Braun-Blanquet (1947) *''Asplenietea rupestris'' (H.M) Braun-Blanquet (1934) ;Protected fauna *Tree spurge (''

Euphorbia dendroides ''Euphorbia dendroides'', also known as tree spurge, is a small tree or large shrub of the family Euphorbiaceae that grows in semi-arid and mediterranean climates. Distribution and habitat ''Euphorbia dendroides'' has a wide distribution throu ...

'') *Prickly juniper (''

Juniperus oxycedrus ''Juniperus oxycedrus'', vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region from Algeria and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernm ...

'') ;Endangered animals *barbary apes (''

Maccaca sylvanus The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principally ...

'') *Jackals (''

Canis aureus algeriensis ''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant taxon, extant species, such as Wolf, wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-devel ...

'') *Wild cats (''

Felis silvestris The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It inhabits forests from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe to the Caucasus. Its fur is ...

'') *Algerian hedgehoga (''

Erinaceus algirus The North African hedgehog (''Atelerix algirus'') or Algerian hedgehog, is a mammal species in the family Erinaceidae native to Algeria, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia. Little is known about this hedgehog, even though the most common b ...

'') ;Marine mammals of national importance *Sperm whales (''

Physeter macrocephalus ''Physeter'' is a genus of toothed whales. There is only one living species in this genus: the sperm whale (''Physeter macrocephalus''). Some extremely poorly known fossil species have also been assigned to the same genus including ''Physeter ant ...

'') *Short-beaked common dolphin (''

Delphinus delphis The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with ...

'') *Bottlenose dolphin (''

Tursiops truncatus Bottlenose dolphins are Aquatic mammal, aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. molecular biology, Molecular studies ...

'') *Harbour porpoises (''

Phocoena phocoena The harbour porpoise (''Phocoena phocoena'') is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familia ...

'')

Gallery

File:Yemma_Gouraya_6.jpg, Yemma Gouraya, next to Béjaïa. File:Yemma Gouraya.jpg, The city of Bougie at the base of Yemma Gouraya mountain. File:Pic des singes.jpg, Monkeys' peak (''Pic des singes''), above the Cap Carbon. File:Fort au dessus du port à Béjaïa 2.jpg, Fort Gouraya, which culminates at 672m. File:Poissons morts 3.jpg, Dead fish on the river Summam, probably from

pesticide pollution The environmental effects of pesticides describe the broad series of consequences of using pesticides. The unintended consequences of pesticides is one of the main drivers of the negative impact of modern industrial agriculture on the environme ...

due to heavy rains (2008).

References

External links

Official websitePark data on UNEP-WPMC''Barbary Macaque: Macaca sylvanus'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
{{authority control National parks of Algeria Biosphere reserves of Algeria Kabylie Geography of Béjaïa Province Protected areas established in 1984 Tourist attractions in Béjaïa Province 1984 establishments in Algeria