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Yangudi Rassa National Park

Afar, Ethiopia

Yangudi Rassa National Park is located in the Afar Region, its 4730 square kilometers of territory include Mount Yangudi near the southern border, with altitudes from 400 to 1459 meters above sea level. Sandy semi-desert and wooded grassland cover the majority of the park's area. This Park lies between the territory of the Afars tribe and the Issas tribe, and while violence has been frequent between them, most of the park happens to be in an area where they avoid each other. 

This national park was proposed to protect the African Wild Ass. Recently, the Wild Ass went extinct in Yagundi Rassa. However, there is a small population in the adjacent Mile-Serdo Wild Ass Reserve (8,766 km²). The park headquarters are in the town of Gewane. Large animals native to the park include Beisa Oryx, Soemmering's gazelle, gerenuk and Grevy's zebra.  Bird species of interest include Phoenicopterus minor, Petronia brachydactyla and Ardeotis arabs.

Yangudi Rassa is an extensive wilderness in this remote northeastern partof the country. More than 200 birds have been recorded here. Of these, no less than 23 Somali-Masai Biome species and two globally threatened species, namely, the Lesser Kestrel and Pallid Harrier are know to occur in the park. It is an important flyway for species like the Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Woodchat Shrike, Lesser Grey Shrike, Black Cap and Ortolan Bunting. This protected area also has 36 species of mammals including Wild Ass, Beisa Oryx, Dorcas Gazelle, Hamadryas Baboon, Bat-eared Fox, Black-backed Jackal, Striped Hyena and Aardwolf.

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