Location: 70 km South of Luanda Map
Area: 9,960 km²
Iona National Park is a protected reserve situated 70 km South of Angola capital of Luanda. Iona National Park is situated in the Namibe Province. It protects an area of 9,960 km². It is by far the largest national park in Angola. Before the Civil War broke out the park was rich in animal diversity and numbers. Today illegal hunting and poachers took their toll on local biodiversity. Government does try to invest in greater presence of the law, but it hardly makes any difference. Iona is also famous for its incredible rock formations.
The park is located in the southwestern part of
the Namibe province between the Kuroka rivers, along which the
northern border of the park passes, and Kunene. The park includes
the mouth of the Kunene River and Baia dos Tigres Bay. The coastline
is about 200 km long. Together with the Namib-Naukluft National Park
and Skeleton Coast Park in Namibia, the park guards the coast with a
total length of 1200 km and the Namib desert. The Kuroka River
regularly dries up and leaves large lagoons, while at the mouth of
the Kunene River there are many wetlands. Altitude reaches 800
meters in the area of Posto do Iona and even greater values in
the Tchamalinde mountains. Precipitation ranges from 100 mm on the
coast to 300 mm per year in the eastern part of the park. The area
of the park is 15150 km², which makes it one of the largest parks
in the country, 25.28 km² of the park is the water area.
The
park is located in the desert and semi-desert zone. The predominant
vegetation are aristide, Stipagrostis, cissus, Salvador, Velvichia,
Acacia and Kommifora, Schmidtia, Mopane. For the desert part,
Odyssea and Sporobulus are characteristic.
The park is
inhabited by such large mammals as black rhinoceros, mountain zebra
(Equus zebra hartmannae), impala (Aepyceros melampus petersi), a
hyena-like dog, brown hyena, cheetah and lion. The park is inhabited
by birds characteristic of the Namib desert and the biomes
Namib-Karoo and Kalahari-Highveld. 114 species of birds were
recorded in the park. Among the rare birds, a flycatcher chasing,
Red-sided Astrild, spectacled penguin, Cinderella gannet and whale
tern, King tern (Thalasseus maximus albididorsalis). At least 58
species of waterfowl live in the park, including the saddle-billed
yabiru, black stork, and small flamingo. The park is also inhabited
by African marabou, African vulture, African eared vulture, ostrich,
kestrel, Apus bradfieldi, Ethiopian swift (Apus horus toulsoni).
The park was established in 1957 to protect arid areas in the
south-east of the country.
The national park is characterized by its various savannah landscapes
and, towards the Atlantic, by its dune landscape, with the Welwitschias,
which are up to 1000 years old and are often found here. The mammals in
the park include: Bear baboon, mountain zebra, elephant, aardwolf,
cheetah, giraffe, greater kudu, hyena, impala, leopard, lion, oryx,
black-backed hyena, black-backed jackal, gemsbok, springbok, black
rhinoceros, ibex and southern green monkey. Angola's national animal,
the Palanca Negra Gigante, was also considered native here, but is
probably already extinct here.
Like all national parks in Angola,
the Iona National Park is also subordinate to the Direcção Nacional de
Gestão do Ambiente (English: “National Administrative Directorate for
Environmental Affairs”), a department within the Ministry of the
Environment (Ministério do Ambiente).
The Iona National Park was founded by the Portuguese colonial
administration on October 2, 1937 as a protected hunting district
(Port.: Reserva de caça) and has been classified as a national park
since December 26, 1964.
During the course of the Angolan civil
war (1975–2002), management in the park was severely neglected. Since
the peace agreement in 2002 and the government's subsequent
reconstruction programs, nature conservation and thus also the national
parks have again been the focus of those responsible, according to the
Angolan state-run national agency.
In autumn 2013, the park's
staff and equipment were significantly increased, and further training
measures were agreed in cooperation with South Africa. The technical
equipment of personnel with vehicles and means of communication
improved. This should also make the fight against poachers much more
effective. In parallel, a $10.5 million, six-year program to renew the
park's facilities and fences and improve its management and data
processing was approved, financed by the Government of Angola, the
European Union and the United Nations Development Program Nations. As a
result, the park's tourist offerings, which have existed since 2001,
will also become more important. In July 2023, 14 southern giraffes from
Namibia were reintroduced to the park. This species had been extinct in
Angola for decades.