Lake Kundi (
Swahili: "group") is located in
South Darfur,
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. The perennial,
endorheic lake is situated at the mouth of
Ibrah River
The Ibrah River or Wadi Ibrah (also spelt Ibra) is a river in Darfur in Sudan. It rises on the southern slopes of the Marrah Mountains, and flows south east to empty into the endorheic
An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or en ...
, near the seasonal
Bahr al-Arab
Bahr al-Arab ( ar, بحر العرب; also called the Kiir River) is a river which flows approximately through the southwest of Sudan and marks part of its international border with South Sudan. It is part of the Nile river system, being a tri ...
.
The nearest town is
Al-Fashir
Al Fashir, Al-Fashir or El Fasher ( ar, الفاشر) is the capital city of North Darfur, Sudan. It is a large town in the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan, northeast of Nyala, Sudan.
"Al-Fashir" (description)
''Encyclopædia Britann ...
, to the north. The lake reaches at high water, shrinking to in the dry season.
The lake is shallow, in depth, depending upon the season. The lake is situated at an altitude of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
.
is located to the southwest.
Flora and fauna
Its vegetation is characterized by ''Ceratophyllum demersum'' and ''Nymphaea lotus''.
''Clarias lazera'' and ''Tilapia zillii'' fish species are found here, and there is an
artisanal fishery.
Lake Kundi includes the protomonad ''
Rhipidodendron huxleyi'', a faunal species previously not recorded in Africa.
Of the avifauna, 5000-7000
Sudan crowned crane have been reported.
Other bird life includes
yellow-billed stork
The yellow-billed stork (''Mycteria ibis''), sometimes also called the wood stork or wood ibis, is a large African wading stork species in the family Ciconiidae. It is widespread in regions south of the Sahara and also occurs in Madagascar.
Taxo ...
,
Abdim's stork
Abdim's stork (''Ciconia abdimii''), also known as the white-bellied stork, is a stork belonging to the family Ciconiidae. It is the smallest species of stork, feeds mostly on insects, and is found widely in open habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa an ...
,
African sacred ibis
The African sacred ibis (''Threskiornis aethiopicus'') is a species of ibis, a wading bird of the family Threskiornithidae. It is native to much of Africa, as well as small parts of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. It is especially known for its role in ...
,
Arabian bustard
The Arabian bustard (''Ardeotis arabs'') is a species of bustard which is found across the Sahel region of Africa and south western Arabia. It is part of the large-bodied genus, ''Ardeotis'', and, though little known, appears to be a fairly typi ...
,
African collared dove
The African collared dove (''Streptopelia roseogrisea'') is a small dove found in the Sahel, northern parts of the Horn of Africa and southwestern Arabia. Although it lives in arid lands, it is found around water sources.
This bird is typica ...
,
golden nightjar
The golden nightjar (''Caprimulgus eximius'') is a species of nightjar in the family Caprimulgidae. It is found in Sahel region in northern Sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
The golden nightjar is a distinctively coloured, smallish nightjar whic ...
,
red-throated bee-eater
The red-throated bee-eater (''Merops bulocki'') is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. This species is found in tropical Africa, in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coas ...
,
yellow-billed shrike,
piapiac
The piapiac (''Ptilostomus afer'') is an African bird in the crow family, and is the only member of the genus ''Ptilostomus''. According to recent findings, it is most closely related to the Central Asian ground jays.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French ...
,
red-pate cisticola,
foxy cisticola,
cricket longtail,
Senegal eremomela
The Senegal eremomela (''Eremomela pusilla'') is a member of the African warbler family, the Cisticolidae. It occurs in the savannas of western Sub-Saharan Africa.
Taxonomy
The Senegal eremomela was described by the German ornithologist Gustav ...
,
chestnut-bellied starling
The chestnut-bellied starling (''Lamprotornis pulcher'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. This is a common resident in arid Sahelian acacia savanna, namely in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guine ...
,
black scrub-robin
The black scrub robin (''Cercotrichas podobe'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae.
It is found in Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Israel, Jordan, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nig ...
,
chestnut-crowned sparrow-weaver
The chestnut-crowned sparrow-weaver (''Plocepasser superciliosus'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae
Ploceidae is a family of small passerine birds, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches and bishops. These n ...
,
bush petronia,
black-rumped waxbill.
Conservation
Lake Kundi is classified as 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 Int ...
.
The Lake Kundi Bird Sanctuary is an
Animal sanctuary whose
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
includes the lake.
References
{{Protected Areas of Sudan
South Darfur
Kundi
Important Bird Areas of Sudan