Location: Blida Province Map
Area: 260 km2
Tel. (213.025) 41 64 61
Fax (213.025) 41 63 63
Email: chrea-parc@ifrance.com
UNESCO site
Chrea National Park (الحديقة الوطنية الشريعة) situated in the north Algeria covers 260 square kilometres of Tell Atlas range. Unusual terrain and climate creates an unique isolated habitat for different biospheres that coexist here. Over 1200 of different species call Chrea National Park their home. Many of the plants, animals and birds are endemic to the region. Local people take particular pride in magnificent raptor species that are associated with strength and agility in the local folklore. Although few farmers do live on the territory of the protected biosphere they do minimal damage to the surrounding area. With tourist money flowing in they see no sense in hunting or logging magnificent Atlas cider (Cedrus atlantica) forests that are wide spread in the area.
Besides hiking and camping the area is also famous for its Chrea Skiing Station. It is one of the few places in Africa that even sees snow and certainly one of the few skiing destinations on the continent. It is a general rule whether you are hiking or skiing keep yourself warm and expect decreased temperatures especially at night. Another popular destination is grotto of Chiffa that harbors Barbary Macaque or Barbary Apes (Macaca sylvanus) as they commonly referred. This endemic specie is on the endangered list and National Park is one of the last places there you will see one up close.
Not many people know that, at the beginning of the 20th century, Algeria was one of the pioneering countries of national parks, even if with essentially tourist intentions, to make the world discover its unknown beauties. In fact, it was starting from 1912 that preparatory works were undertaken which culminated, in 1921, in general provisions and in 1923 in the establishment of the first national park, that of Theniet El Had, intended to protect a spectacular and lush cedar forest. Alongside these, 12 other park projects were developed which were then gradually implemented in the years to come, until 1931. Among these, the Chréa park was built in 1925, in the Algiers region, with a surface area of 1351 hectares, on forests municipal buildings without local exploitation rights but already frequented, since the beginning of the 1900s, by the first excursionists and tourists coming from nearby Algiers, thanks to some pavilions that had been set up for this purpose by the colonial authorities. Unfortunately, many irrational developments followed, not always compatible with the protection of the places, and therefore, also due to the events linked to Algerian independence, difficult years followed. Yet, despite everything, the parks survived and the new government actually tried to ensure their recovery by making the control of forestry and grazing activities much more rigorous than previously. The Chréa national park has thus become, despite its modest extension, a pleasant mid-mountain summer resort, frequented by tourists but also protected from possible failures due to excessive intrusiveness of visitors: permission to practice winter sports in some areas, for example For example, it is only granted for a few weeks each year. And it represents, together with the other parks in Algeria, a highly attractive destination, in the cool of the last North African mountain forests, all the more sought after and appreciated by visitors who come from the warm cities of the coast and the plain.
This Park is one of the many North African places, more or less effectively protected, where one can better observe the original appearance and understand more deeply the natural environment of the mighty Maghrebian mountain range which goes by the name of Atlas. It is a vast system of reliefs, which transversally marks the whole of Northern Africa, from Morocco to Algeria and Tunisia, which corrugated in the Alpine age and is similar to the Alps also due to a whole series of flora-faunal characteristics. It culminates in the Moroccan High Atlas with the sacred peak of Toubkal, at 4165 m, and overall constitutes a privileged, green and varied oasis in the arid monotony of the surrounding sub-desert lands. Even if its flora and fauna have been the subject of exploitation and destruction since very ancient times - and thus the Berber lion, the leopard, the lynx and many other large animals have disappeared forever - the Atlas still represents the extreme refuge for most of the plants and animals that have survived to the present day: this is the case of the Barbary monkey, or Barbary monkey (Macaca sylvanus), which reaches from the Atlas to the extreme tip of Europe, on the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Chréa National Park includes the highest part of the Chréa Mountains, culminating at 1550 m, and the Sidi Abdelkader peak of 1629 m, of the suggestive mountain chain that forms a very distinct sector of the Tellian Atlas immediately south of Blida. The appearance is suggestive, almost alpine, unexpected in Northern Africa where, a few kilometers away, lie sunny and parched territories. The base rock consists of characteristic black shale formations, which add to the interest of the landscape. What strikes the observer most, however, is the vegetation, majestic and imposing, and above all the presence of splendid forests of Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica), the most representative tree of the North African mountains, to the point that for many the area is known simply as "cedar park" (although it is certainly not the only Algerian park to host this essence). The air is filled with the smell of resin and the meadows are strewn with an extraordinary carpet of wild flowers in spring, while in autumn mushrooms of various species abound. Accompanying the cedar forest is a lower layer of holm oak, nor is there any shortage of other interesting trees and shrubs such as yew, holly and barberry.
The fauna, although not very rich, presents some reasons of interest especially due to the presence of showy mammals, such as the wild boar and the jackal. But the birds are much more numerous, among which insectivores stand out, and it is easy to observe magpies, jays and hoopoes of various species, while the encounter with birds of prey and vultures, once very frequent, is now a rare fortune. Even the entomological fauna preserves endemisms and peculiarities of considerable interest.