Nialama Classified Forest, also spelled Nyalama, is found in the Fouta Djalon highland region of north-west

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

Geography and environment

The forest has an area of 10,000 ha and an elevation of 200-900 m above sea level. The site includes hills, cliffs and escarpments, hills, a gently undulating, low-lying plain, and seasonal swamps. It is vegetated with a mosaic of dense

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

, open forest,

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

woodland and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

, with patches of ''

Oxytenanthera abyssinica ''Oxytenanthera'' is a genus of African bamboo. Bamboos are members of the Poaceae, grass family Poaceae. The only recognised species in this genus is ''Oxytenanthera abyssinica''. This species is found widespread across much of sub-Saharan Afri ...

'' bamboo. The main forest species are ''

Parkia biglobosa ''Parkia biglobosa'', the African locust bean, is a perennial deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae. It is found in a wide range of environments in Africa and is primarily grown for its pods that contain both a sweet pulp and valuable seeds. Whe ...

'' and ''

Pterocarpus erinaceus ''Pterocarpus erinaceus'' is an endangered tree species native to the Sahelian region of West Africa. It is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. It is used for fuel wood, fo ...

'', with ''

Afzelia africana ''Afzelia africana'', the African mahogany, afzelia, lenke, lengue, apa, or doussi, is a Myrmecophyte tree species in the family Fabaceae. Range It occurs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DRCongo, Ivory Coast, G ...

'' and ''

Elaeis guineensis ''Elaeis guineensis'' is a species of Arecaceae, palm commonly just called oil palm but also sometimes African oil palm or macaw-fat. The first Western world, Western person to describe it and bring back seeds was the French naturalist Michel Ad ...

'' on the savanna. Average annual rainfall is 1,145 mm.

Wildlife

Results of a survey in 1998 as part of the follow-up to the ''Projet de Conservation des Chimpanzes en Guinee'' indicated four social groups of

western chimpanzee The western chimpanzee or West African chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes verus'') is a Critically Endangered subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, specifically Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea-B ...

s were living in the park, three of which took permanent residence in their respective blocks. The total population of these four groups was estimated to be 83 individuals. The forest has been designated 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 ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports significant populations of

violet turaco The violet turaco, also known as the violaceous plantain eater (''Tauraco violaceus''), is a large turaco, a group of African otidimorphae. Characteristics These are unmistakable birds, but shy and often inconspicuous in the treetops. They are ...

red-throated bee-eater The red-throated bee-eater (''Merops bulocki'') is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. This species is native to the Sudan (region). It has a wide range and large total population, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature ha ...

blue-bellied roller The blue-bellied roller (''Coracias cyanogaster'') is a member of the Coraciidae, roller family of birds which breeds across Africa in a narrow belt from Senegal to northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is resident, apart from some loca ...

s, bearded barbets, fox kestrels,

Senegal parrot The Senegal parrot (''Poicephalus senegalus'') is a parrot which is a resident breeder across a wide range of west Africa. It makes migrations within west Africa, according to the availability of the fruit, seeds and blossoms which make up its ...

piapiac The piapiac (''Ptilostomus afer'') is an African bird in the crow family, and is the only member of the genus ''Ptilostomus''. It is most closely related to the Central Asian ground jays. Taxonomy In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Br ...

white-crowned robin-chat The white-crowned robin-chat (''Cossypha albicapillus'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. Its range extends mainly across the western region of the Sudanian savanna. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropica ...

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, or bishops. These n ...

s and

Sahel bush sparrow The Sahel bush sparrow (''Gymnoris dentata'') or bush petronia, is a species of bird in the family Passeridae. It is found in Africa from Mauritania to Guinea and east to Eritrea and the south-western Arabian Peninsula in its natural habitats of ...

References

{{authority control Protected areas of Guinea Important Bird Areas of Guinea Forests of Guinea