Bou-Hedma

Bou-Hedma National Park was established in 1980 in south-central Tunisia, in the mountain chain of the same name, and protects some 165 km² in the transition between the steppe and the Sahara.

Its botanical value is exceptional: it preserves the last vestige of the Acacia raddiana wooded savannah that once covered broad areas of North Africa in the pre-Saharan belt, an ecosystem practically vanished from the Maghreb. That scattered tree cover over steppe, with acacias of characteristic form, is a relict of wetter climatic conditions and has survived here thanks to protection.

The park has become a reference centre for restoring the Saharan fauna lost from Tunisia. Since the 1980s the scimitar-horned oryx, extinct in the wild, the addax, the dama gazelle, the red-necked ostrich and the Barbary sheep have been reintroduced there, in programmes coordinated with European captive breeding institutions. Bou-Hedma was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1977, even before its designation as a national park.