Location: El Tarf Province Map
Area: 800 km2
El Kala National Park (الحديقة الوطنية القالة) situated in the North East corner of Algeria in the El Tarf province covers 800 square miles. El Kala National Park protected nature reserve is made of a mosaic of ecosystems including sclerophyllous forests, coastal Mediterranean, lakes, deserts and marine. Due to its biodiversity this Algerian park was recognized by UNESCO in 1990. Many of the species that live here are endemic. Human expansion, hunting and reckless behaviour of some of the tourists put many of the species in danger of complete extinction. Natural Park contains a small zoo, eco- museum and several bird watching towers. Lakes and adjusted wetlands are particularly abundant in many species of birds. Lake Tonga is one of the most popular and easily reached for tourists. Aside hiking and camping this park draws many people for swimming and diving in the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Algeria. If you are lucky you might see a Barbary stag, a small specie of a deer that is common here. In all there is about 88 species of different birds and 40 species of mammals living here.
The park is located near the town of
El Kala in the wilaya of El-Tarf, in the far northeast of Algeria.
Covering an area of 80,000 ha, it is bordered to the north by the
Mediterranean Sea and to the east by the Tunisian border. It
encompasses several lakes and various swamps. It is an integral part
of the Kroumirie mountain range and includes eight border
municipalities.
The central part of the Park is home to three
lakes which were classified as wetlands of international importance
under the Ramsar Convention by Unesco in 1983: Lake El Melah, Lake
Oubeira and Lake Tonga.
The park was created in
1983.
The park was classified as a biosphere reserve by
UNESCO in 1990, the second in Algeria after that of Tassili n'Ajjer.
In April 2008, it was threatened by the route of the East-West
highway linking the Tunisian border to the Moroccan border, which
plans to cross it from side to side. If it were to happen, this
infrastructure would have disastrous and irreversible consequences
for this ecosystem. Various actions are undertaken to divert the
highway on an alternative route bypassing the park further south.
During the month of August 2022, more than 10,000 ha (i.e.
1/8th) of the surface of the park burned following the heat wave.
The park represents a wetland which has an association of original ecosystems of significant ecological richness. The World Wide Fund for Nature has noted the presence, one of the reservoirs of biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin, of 450 species of birds, 305 of mammals, 193 of fish, 138 of amphibians and reptiles as well as 40 000 plant specimens.
The park is home to the gallery forest of Oued El Kebir, which has giant trees on both banks, peat bogs in the marshes and maritime pine forests.