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| Biosphere Reserve Information | ||||
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MOUNT KULAL |
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| General Description |
This biosphere reserve is situated on the eastern side and southern end of Lake Turkana, with Mount Kulal (2,416 meters above sea level) in its center. The area comprises a variety of landscapes and habitats, including brackish water at the southern end of the Lake, a volcanic landscape with lava flows, an extensive lava desert and a volcanic island within the lake, hot springs, the occasionally flooded Chalbi salt desert, sand dunes and seasonal water courses. Mount Kulal is a volcanic mountain with a deep crater, capped by rain and mist forest. Apart from livestock raising and fishing, main human activities include tree felling in the area. The montane and sub-montane forests of Mount Kulal are subject to logging by pastoralists for fuel wood, building materials and for the construction of livestock enclosures. Forest regeneration is being reduced by the removal of the understorey in several areas. Grass fires, lit by pastoralists, erode the forest edge. |
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| Major ecosystem type | Warm deserts and semi-deserts / lake systems | |||
| Major habitats & land cover types | Mountain forest, desert; montane zone with rainforest, mist forest and grassland; sub-montane zone with dry evergreen forest of Olea africana and Juniperus procera with a shrub layer of Euclea spp. and Carissa spp. and grassland; sub-humid/semi-arid zone of Combretum spp. woodland with Euphorbia spp. and Acacia drepanolobium woodland with an understory of Duosperma eremophilum; semi-arid zone of Acacia mellifera and Commiphora spp. bushland; semi-arid/arid zone with bush-land of Acacia reficiens and woodland of Acacia tortilis; ever-green shrubland of saltbush; lava desert; salt desert; lake ecosystems | |||
| Location | 02°25' to 03°25'N; 36°30' to 37°30'E | |||
| Area (hectares) | ||||
| Total | 700,000 | |||
| Core area(s) | 1,100 | |||
| Buffer zone(s) | ||||
| Transition area(s) when given | ||||
| Altitude (metres above sea level) | +378 to +2,416 | |||
| Year designated | 1978 | |||
| Administrative authorities | National Environment Secretariat | |||
| Last updated: 5/11/2000 |
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