The estuary of the Rivers Saloum and Sine, to the North of the Gambia, is a maze of more than 200 islands covered in mangroves, baobabs and silk cotton trees, making up a network of countless bolongs, where salt and fresh water mix.
Sine Saloum is the home of the Serer, who comprise the Sine-sine, Safen, Palor, Ndout and Niominka.
334,000 hectares of the Saloum Delta have been included since 1981 in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The Saloum Delta National Park, founded in 1976, the second largest park in Senegal after Niokola Koba, covers 76,000 hectares. This reserve, classified since 1984 as a wetland of international importance (Ramsar site, a convention signed by 150 countries to protect the planet’s wetlands, which is home to more than 250 species of birds: pelicans, herons, egrets, teal, slender-billed gulls, royal and Caspian terns.
And warthogs, waterbucks, hyenas, green monkeys, pata monkeys, manatees, dolphins, turtles…
The mangrove islands, bolongs lined with mangrove trees and mud flats provide a refuge for rare, endangered species.
There are also many reptiles. Crocodiles, snakes, varanus lizards, chameleons and tortoises each evolve in their own environment and a number of amphibians add to the riches of the park’s fauna.
The marine and coastal sector of the park provides a refuge for fish to reproduce and the beaches are used by turtles to lay their eggs. Green turtles, loggerhead turtles and leatherhead turtles – the largest in the world – are to be found here.
As for the flora, 188 plant species, this consists mainly of a succession of varieties of mangrove from the sea inland, consisting of red mangroves, white mangroves, stretches of sesuvium and paspalum, conocarpus and laguncularia mangroves.
Sénegal is the third bird reserve in the world
More than 200 species , 120 000 birds in the Delta du Saloum park
The central intertidal zone of river channels, islands, creeks, mangroves and exposed sand and mud is particularly important as a feeding area and roosting area for waders and herons. This is the most important site for wintering Casmerodius albus in West Africa, probably the most important site in Senegal for Ardea goliath and the only known breeding site in Senegal In addition to its importance for the species listed in the Box, there are significant numbers, close to IBA thresholds, of many other waders, including Haematopus ostralegus, Himantopus himantopus, Burhinus senegalensis and Numenius phaeopus. The zone furthest inland becomes very dry during the dry season, the saltmarshes and salines are of particular importance for Phoenicopterus ruber.
There are also many raptor species in the area including Dark Chanting Goshawk, Grasshopper Buzzard, African Hawk Eagle and Grey Kestrel. Other species found in the area include Black-headed Heron, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Pearl-spotted Owlet, White-crowned Robin-Chat, and Pygmy Sunbird. It should be noted that there are Tsetse fly in some of the central areas of the park.
. The largest concentrations of wintering Pandion haliaetus recorded in Senegal occur in the site. There is considerable interchange and movement of birds between these three sites, all of which are of very high importance for wintering, passage and resident waterbirds and seabirds.
