Djurdjura

Djurdjura National Park was created in 1983 in Greater Kabylia, in northern Algeria, and protects some 185 km² of the massif of the same name, which culminates in Lalla Khedidja, above 2,300 metres.

It is an intensely karstified limestone massif, and its subsurface holds some of the deepest shafts in Africa: the Anou Boussouil and the Anou Ifflis exceed a thousand metres of vertical range and have been the object of international caving expeditions since the 1970s. At the surface the karst shows itself in limestone pavements, dolines and snow patches that persist for much of the year.

The vegetation combines Atlas cedar forest on the high ground, gall oak and holm oak woods below, and mountain grassland on the summits, with a flora rich in North African endemics. The park holds one of the most important Barbary macaque populations in Algeria and a notable cliff-nesting birdlife, with bearded vulture and griffon vulture. The massif is also deeply bound up with Kabyle identity, and its slopes are dotted with traditional villages. It was recognised as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1997.