Travel Guide Parc National Du Diawling

The Diawling National Park (DNP), at the southwestern tip of the country and a neighbor and sister park to the Djouj Park in Senegal, was created in 1991 in response to an ecological incident. This territory of wetlands in the Senegal River delta, which dried up and flooded cyclically with the seasons, was, until the 1960s, one of the richest regions in West Africa in terms of fauna and flora. Following years of particularly difficult drought and the construction of the Manantali and Diama dams in the 1970s, the salt water table rose to the surface, destroying the most fertile Sebka areas in the region, with all the disastrous consequences for biodiversity that go without saying. Since its creation, the park's vocation is to recreate the destroyed ecosystems, through the artificial flooding of different basins to fight against the desertification of the delta. The NDP has set three fundamental objectives for the park: 1. conservation and sustainable use of natural resources of a sample of the lower delta ecosystem; 2. harmonious and permanent development of traditional and new activities of local populations; 3. coordination of fish farming and pastoral activities carried out on its territory. All these good intentions seem to be bearing fruit, since we are witnessing a return of the characteristic vegetation of the lower delta, in particular, and by way of example, of the Sporobolus robustus used in the local craft industry for the manufacture of mats. Many fish species, but also water birds (pelicans, cormorants, crowned cranes, flamingos and dwarf flamingos...), both migratory and sedentary, and mammals (warthogs, jackals) have once again taken up residence in the PND, and with them several Mauritanian families who had been forced to leave their village. These efforts were rightly recognized and rewarded by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) in 2005. Today, the PND is the core of the Senegal River Delta Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (TBR). A fine example of managed areas where nature and local populations are regaining their rights.