Wildlife of the Gambia

[1][2] According to the government of the Gambia, about 3.7% of the land area of the country has been brought under national parks or reserves, and the present wildlife policy is to extend this coverage to 5%.

[3] The birdlife in the Gambia is colourful and rich, with 560 species inhabiting coastal saltwater, freshwater wetlands, Guinea and Sudan savanna, woodlands and forests, agricultural lands, towns and villages.

Above these are the very old beaches at an elevation where the rich vegetation consists of baobab (Adansonia digitata) and ron palm (Borassus aethiopum) species interspersed with shrubs and grassland.

Banto Faros are found, after the mangroves, in flat lands which are barren and salt encrusted; however, succulent plants grow in some of the less saline thick mats.

[5] Farmlands, including savanna and woodland, form now a dominant habitat in the Gambia where crops were grown initially on a rotation system of 20 years with a fallow period.

The local tree species include silk cotton (Bombax costatum), dry-zone mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) in deeper soil areas and African rosewood (Guibourtia coleosperma).

It is a rare habitat found only in Abuko Nature Reserve, Pirang Forest Park and in some stretches of the Gambia River with different set of species with some degree of overlap with rainforests.

The law prohibits all types of hunting, except of animals harmful to the environment, such as warthogs, giant pouched rats and francolins.

Also, as a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Gambia enforces laws prohibiting export or even possession within the country of any animal skins, horns or turtle shells.

Wetland bird species are Dendrocygna viduata, sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus), palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis), crakes, greater painted snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) and African jacana (Actophilornis africanus).

It grows up to 4 metres high and is a staple of the national diet, with each person consuming an average of 100 kg per annum in 2002 according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.