The Ngoyla Faunal Reserve is a 1,566 sq km-large

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 ...

, which is situated in the south-eastern part of Cameroon. It is an important shelter and corridor for the Congolian rainforests

megafauna In terrestrial zoology, the megafauna (from Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and New Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") comprises the large or giant animals of an area, habitat, or geological period, extinct and/or extant. The most common threshold ...

within the tri-national Dja- Odzala- Minkébé protected area complex (TRIDOM).

Description

The Ngoyla Faunal Reserve was officially created by the MINFOF (Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife) in 2014 with the support of WWF. It is found in the south-central part of the Ngoyla-Mintom massif. The climate of the reserve is tropical with two wet and two dry seasons. The annual precipitation is in the northern, and in the southern area, the average annual temperature is due to the elevation (500-600 meters a.s.l.). Characteristic vegetation types are humid evergreen rainforests (82%), swamp forests (15%), natural forest clearances (2%), and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

-farmbush mosaics (1%). Its biodiversity is notable; 230 fish, 280 bird, and 37 large and medium-sized

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

species have been recorded. Notable mammal species are the African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis''), western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla''),

central chimpanzee The central chimpanzee or the tschego (''Pan troglodytes troglodytes'') is a subspecies of chimpanzee closely related to the other great apes such as gorillas, orangutans, and humans. The central chimpanzee can be found in Central Africa, mostly ...

(''Pan troglodytes troglodytes''),

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 ...

(''Mandrillus sphinx''),

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 ...

(''Panthera pardus''), African forest buffalo (''Syncerus caffer nanus''), western bongo (''Tragelaphus eurycerus''),

sitatunga The sitatunga or marshbuck (''Tragelaphus spekii'') is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, ...

(''Tragelaphus spekii''), and forest duikers.{{Cite web , title=Ngoyla-Mintom Forest Block, url=https://www.wwf-congobasin.org/where_we_work/cameroon/ngoyla_mintom_project/, access-date=2020-07-12, website=www.wwf-congobasin.org , publisher= WWF Besides the high density and diversity of forest animals, the Ngolya Faunal Reserve is an important corridor to migrating species, such as forest elephants by connecting the Dja Faunal Reserve, the

Nki National Park Nki National Park (Parc national de Nki, also Réserve de Nki) is a national park in southeastern Cameroon, located in its East Province. The closest towns to Nki are Yokadouma, Moloundou and Lomie, beyond which are rural lands. Due to its remot ...

, and the Minkébé National Park of Gabon, due to its location within the TRIDOM complex.

References

Protected areas of Cameroon Faunal reserves

Description

See also

References