Ichkeul National Park

Ichkeul National Park

Lake Ichkeul is located in northern Tunisia, 20 kilometers from Bizerte, Africa's northernmost city on the Mediterranean Sea. The Ichkeul National Park's lakes and wetlands are an important stopover for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds every year. The lake is visited by ducks, geese, storks and pink flamingos, among others. Ichkeul is the last surviving lake in a chain of lakes that once extended across North Africa. During the reign of the Hafsid dynasty, Lake Ichkeul was a reserve in the 13th century. It later became a public property under French rule in the early 20th century and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. The National Park includes important natural habitats, as it is an essential wintering ground for western palearctic birds. The area provides shelter to exceptional densities of waterfowl each winter, which in some years can number over 300 000 ducks, geese and coots simultaneously. Three of these birds are of global conservation importance: the White-Headed Duck, the Ferruginous Duck and the Marbled Duck. Thanks to this diversity of habitats, the area has a very rich and varied fauna and flora, with more than 200 species of animals and over 500 species of plants. As dams have significantly reduced the freshwater inflow to lakes and marshes, reeds, sedges and other types of freshwater plants have been replaced by salt-loving plants. These changes have resulted in a sharp decline in migratory bird populations, which were dependent on the previous mix of plants.