The Yaéré, from

Fula Fula may refer to: *Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe) *Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) **The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language **The Fula variety known as the Pular language **The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde *Al-Fula ...

', is the name of a vast annually- flooded grassland and savanna, part of the extensive

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s around the shallow and variable

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, ...

. The Yaéré is part of the

Lake Chad flooded savanna The Lake Chad flooded savanna is a flooded grasslands and savannas ecoregion in Africa. It includes the seasonally- and permanently-flooded grasslands and savannas in the basin of Lake Chad in Central Africa, and covers portions of Cameroon, Ch ...

ecoregion. Accessed 7 July 2020.

Geography

The Yaéré covers areas of northeasternmost

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, of

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesChad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and of the Far North Region of Cameroon. The Yaéré extends from the low hills at the base of the

Mandara Mountains The Mandara Mountains are a volcanic range extending about 190 km (about 120 mi) along the northern part of the Cameroon–Nigeria border, from the Benue River in the south () to the north-west of Maroua in the north (). The highest el ...

in the southwest to Lake Chad in the north. In the east it merges with the permanent wetlands bordering the Logone. At the beginning of the wet season the clays that compose the soil expand and form an impermeable pan over which the water collects. It is connected to the more permanent

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

along the

Logone River The Logon or Logone River is a major tributary of the Chari River. The Logone's sources are located in the western Central African Republic, northern Cameroon, and southern Chad. It has two major tributaries: the Pendé River (Eastern Logone) in ...

, which flows into the

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

Lake Chad and seasonally overflows into the surrounding Yaéré savanna. Torrential seasonal rains also drain from the Mandara Mountains, bringing a rich sediment to the floodplain. The ecological richness of the Yaéré derives from its particular conditions of wet-season flooding and dry season drought.

Conservation

Drought years when rains fail, such as in the 1970s, are particularly harsh on this delicately balanced ecosystem, and on the local human population that depends on seasonal fishing.Sighomnou ''et al.''

Waza National Park Waza National Park is a national park in the Department of Logone-et-Chari, in Far North Region, Cameroon. It was founded in 1934 as a hunting reserve, and covers a total of . Waza achieved national park status in 1968, and became a UNESCO biosp ...

of Cameroon lies in the southwest part of the Yaéré savanna.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaere Lake Chad Flooded grasslands and savannas Grasslands of Cameroon Grasslands of Chad Grasslands of Niger Grasslands of Nigeria Wetlands of Cameroon Wetlands of Chad Wetlands of Niger Wetlands of Nigeria

Geography

Conservation

See also

Notes