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.