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18-590: The Hoggar Mountains are home to the Ahaggar National Park , one of the national parks of the country . The tallest peak in the range and Algeria, Mount Tahat , is located in the park area, which covers approximately 450,000 square kilometres (170,000 sq mi). This mountainous region is located about 1,500 km (930 mi) south of the capital, Algiers . The area is largely rocky desert with an average elevation of more than 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. The highest peak, Mount Tahat ,

36-642: A cold winter climate. Temperatures fall below freezing in the winter. Rainfall is rare and sporadic year-round. However, since the climate is less extreme than in most other areas of the Sahara, the mountains are a major location for biodiversity , including a number of relict species. The Hoggar Mountains are part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion . Vegetation in this area includes trees such as Vachellia tortilis , Vachellia seyal , myrtle and Tamarix aphylla which are scattered throughout

54-453: A large majority of African countries, being most numerous in Gabon , Kenya and Tanzania . Some nations also have considerable areas designated as private parks, game reserves , forest reserves , marine reserves , national reserves and natural parks . These are not included in the list below, even though some of these may resemble some national parks. For more information on such zones, see

72-711: A simple nest made of a loose collection of twigs, plat stems, down and fibres such as animal hair, grass fibres and sometimes feathers. It is placed in a shallow depression in the ground, in the shade of a rock, bush or a tussock of grass. It may also be situated as high as to six metres (20 ft) above ground in a pipe or wall. The clutch is normally 4–6 eggs. They are mainly vegetarian and their diet consists of small seeds, shoots and buds of grasses and low ground-loving plants. They will eat some insects as well, mainly grasshoppers . Trumpeter finches can be resident, dispersive or nomadic. They can occur in pairs or they form flocks of up to 20 individuals; larger flocks can form outside

90-627: Is a famous and often visited point where Charles de Foucauld built a hermitage in 1911. The highlands are believed to be one of the main sources of the Tamanrasset River , an ancient river that flowed during the African humid period , and named after the main city near the Hoggar Mountains, Tamanrasset , built in a desert valley or wadi that was part of the ancient watercourse. The Hoggar Mountains range typically experiences hot summers, with

108-425: Is at 2,908 m (9,541 ft). The mountains are primarily composed of metamorphic rock approximately 2 billion years old, although there are areas where more recent volcanic activity has laid down much newer rock. Several of the more dramatic peaks, such as Ilamen, are the result of erosion wearing away extinct volcano domes, leaving behind the more resistant material that plugged the volcanic cones. Assekrem

126-681: Is evident from extant rock paintings dating to 6000 BC. The Hoggar Massif is the land of the Kel Ahaggar Tuareg . The tomb of Tin Hinan , the woman believed to be the matriarch of the Tuareg, is located at Abalessa , an oasis near Tamanrasset. The hermitage of Charles de Foucauld , which continues to be inhabited by a few Catholic monks, is at the top of the Assekrem plateau in the Hoggar Mountains. Underground atomic tests were conducted by France in

144-531: The Algarve in Portugal which originated from escaped cage birds. In the summer of 2005, there was a notable irruption of this species into northwestern Europe, with several birds reaching as far as England . The trumpeter finch is a small, long-winged bird. It has a large head and short, very thick bill. The summer male has a red bill, grey head and neck, and pale brown upper parts. The breast, rump and tail are pink,

162-688: The Canary Islands eastwards across North Africa, as far south as Mauritania, Mali and Chad, with isolated populations in Sudan and Ethiopia and Djibouti. In the Middle East, it is found in Egypt east to Iraq and south in the Arabian Peninsula to Yemen and Oman and north into Turkey and Armenia. In central Asia it ranges from Iran north to Kazakhstan and east to India. It has colonised southern Spain where breeding

180-566: The area. Other plants may include Citrullus colocynthis and Calotropis procera . Slightly to the west of the Hoggar range, a population of the endangered African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus ) remained viable into the 20th century, but is now thought to be extirpated within this entire region. Relict populations of the West African crocodile persisted in the Hoggar Mountains until the early 20th century. Analysis of collected scat in 2006 showed

198-466: The breeding season, frequently made up of largely juvenile birds, rarely reaching 1,000 birds. In then Canary Islands they form mixed flocks with common linnets and Spanish sparrows . They will fly quite long distances in the late afternoons and in the evenings to find drinking water. The population in Spain is supported by birds dispersing from North Africa joining its population. The genus name Bucanetes

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216-557: The desert regions of northern Africa it can also occur in villages and gardens and in regions of open sandy desert it frequents oases . The European breeding population is found in habitats where there is no tree cover but there is sparse scrub less than a metre in height, while the birds in the Canary Islands nest on sandy plains with halophytic and xerophytic scrub, as well as in more typical habitats. Trumpeter finches breed from February to June in monogamous pairs. The female builds

234-472: The individual articles on each country. Trumpeter finch Rhodopechys githaginea The trumpeter finch ( Bucanetes githagineus ) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae . It is mainly a desert species which is found in North Africa and Spain through to southern Asia. It has occurred as a vagrant in areas north of its breeding range. The trumpeter finch breeds from

252-514: The last having dark terminal feathers. Winter males, females and young birds are a very washed-out version of the breeding male. The song of this bird is a buzzing nasal trill, like a tin trumpet. Trumpeter finches occur in desert, semi-desert and the margins of deserts. They can also be found in vast open steppe areas where there are dry desolate hills with sparse low scrubby vegetation, edges of fields, on mountain slopes, in stony plains where there are no trees, cliffs, ravines, gorges and wadis . In

270-593: The mountains in the 1960s. List of national parks of Algeria This is a list of national parks in Africa . The nature of the parks varies considerably not only between countries but also within some nations - the degree of protection, accessibility and type of environment for which it is intended to deliver protection. Some parks have been cleared of their original human population, others have always been essentially uninhabited, while yet others contain significant population centers. National parks can be found in

288-510: The presence of the Northwest African cheetah in the region. Between August 2008 and November 2010, four individuals were recorded by camera traps . A single cheetah was filmed and photographed by Algerian naturalists in 2020 in the national park in the Atakor volcanic field whose peaks approach a height of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). The park also contains a population of herbivores such as

306-559: The saharan subspecies of the barbary sheep and the Dorcas gazelle . The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of spotted , crowned and Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse , Pharaoh eagle-owls , pallid harriers , greater hoopoe-larks , bar-tailed and desert larks , pale rock martins , fulvous babblers , white-crowned and mourning wheatears , desert sparrows and trumpeter finches . Prehistoric settlement

324-561: Was first proved in 1971. There are four recognised subspecies: It has been recorded as a vagrant in Great Britain with the first records there both occurring in 1971 in Suffolk and in Sutherland , Channel Island , Denmark, Sweden Germany and Austria. It is possibly a regular migrant in southern Europe away from Spain with records of flocks from Italy and Malta. There was a population in

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