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Mamunta-Mayawso Wetlands

General Site Description: Mamunta–Mayawso is a wildlife sanctuary. This sanctuary is situated in Kholifa and Mabang Chiefdoms, Tonkolili district, Northern Province, about 180 km east of Freetown, almost at the centre of the country.  The sanctuary supports a wide range of vegetation types.  The predominant vegetation is boliland (seasonally flooded grassland) with occasional occurrence of swamps, savanna, secondary forest and two perennial lakes.  Water depths in swamps rise to over 1.5 m during flooding. The sanctuary is also one of the few areas in Sierra Leone holding the threatened Dwarf Crocodile.

Mean annual rainfall ranges from 3048 to 3556 mm.  Mean daily temperatures vary from 26-320C in the dry season, and 20-300C in the wet season.  Relative humidity at 1500h varies between 50% and 80% annually.  The area is founded on Precambrian-Bintumani granite rocks.

Access and Facilities: Mamunta village occurs in close proximity to the Magbas Sugar Industry, near Magburaka. This industry provides job opportunity for the people of Mamunta and surrounding communities.  Mayosso is along a motorable but untarred road that runs between Magburaka (30 km to the northeast) and Yonibana (35 km to the southwest).  Yonibana (Mile 91) is on the Bo - Freetown highway.  A dilapidated and disused visitors’ centre, which needs urgent rehabilitation, is situated on the Mayosso road.  The communities within the vicinity of the reserve operate a raffia-produce manufacturing group that deals in high quality raffia products like handbags, baskets, hand fans etc.  Makeni, which is the headquarter town in the Northern Province is within 50 km to the north.

Biodiversity of the Area
Fauna: Eight species of primates have been recoded in this sanctuary, in addition to other big game such as the bushbuck, bushpig and duikers. The threatened primates are the Western Chimpanzee (En) and Red Colobus Monkey (Vu). Other threatened fauna are Pigmy Hippotamus (NT). The sanctuary is home to three species of crocodiles (the Nile, the slender-snorted and the dwarf) and the Nile monitor lizard (Varanus).  It should be noted that the Dwarf Crocodile is found only in this area.

Field (1979) and Tye and Tye (1987) produced bird lists, which were updated by Ormsby (1991). These surveys listed a total of 252 species of birds belonging to 51 families. These include two near-threatened species – Turati’s Boubou and Rufous-winged Illadopsis. A Waterfowl census conducted in 1994 gave a total of 1280 birds representing 18 species and includes a large count of the White-faced Whistling Duck.

Flora: The predominant vegetation is boliland (seasonally flooded grassland) with occasional swamps, savanna, secondary forest and a perennial lake in close proximity. Four different plant associations have been identified in the sanctuary and the surrounding landscape. These include Anadelphia/Rhytachne, Nauclea/Chasmopodium, and Lophira/Chasmopodium associations, and Riverain forest which is a sacred bush (Bakshi, 1963). The Anadelphia/Rhytachne association occurs in the seasonally flooded areas, and is dominated by Anadelphia leptocoma but is intolerant to prolonged waterlogged conditions. Rhytachne rottboeliodes occurs in association withA. leptocoma and can withstand prolonged waterlogged conditions. Other species typical of this association include Panicum congoense, Anadelphia errecta, Cyperus pustulatus, Mesanthemum radicans, Neurotheca loeselicedes, Saccolepis auriculata, Alectra sp., Eragrostis chalarothysos, Scelria mitella and Sopubia parviflora.

The areas that do not become flooded during the rains comprise the Chasmopodium/ Nauclea association, with Chasmopodium caudatum being the dominant plant. Typical plant composition in the Chasmopodium/Nuaclea association include Thaumatococcus daniellii, Andropogon gabonensis, Abrus prectirius, Amphiblemma mildbraedii, Lophira lanceolata, loudetia arundinaceae, Pennisetum purpureum, Pennisetum subangustrum, Sauvagesia erecta, Smilax kraussiana and Urginea indica.

The Lophira/Chasmopodium association is the most conspicuous plant association in the bolilands. Other trees are generally not found but the ground cover could include species such as Amorphophallus aphyllus, A. elliottii, amphiblemma milbraedii, Dioscorea hirtiflora, Dissotis sp., Elinurus pseudapricus, Eragrostis plurigluma, Smilax kraussiana and the fern Nephrolepis undula(Bakshi, 1963).

The fourth plant association is the riverain forest or sacred bush, frequently encountered along creeks, streams and rivers. These bushes are protected by the local communities because of their socio-cultural values. Typical plant species include Morinda geminate, Bersama abyssinica, Cassia sieberiana, Dialium guineense, Xylopia quintasii, X. aethiopica, Voacanga obtuse, Trichilia heudelotii, Anisophylla laurina, Craterispermum laurinum, Holarrhena Africana, Pterocarpus santalnoides, Mareya micrantha, Diospyros sp., Ficus mucosa, Napoleona heudelotii, Pycnanthus angolensis, Craterispermum laurinum, Holarrhena Africana, Dichrostachys glomerata, Funtumia elastica and Caloncoba echinata. The grass Guaduella oblonga occurs as ground cover.
 
Management and Conservation Status: No management plans exist for the area.  The uncompromising attitude of landowners due to unfulfilled promises by the government is the major problem affecting the sanctuary’s management.  At present, PA management is handled by a single staff from the WCB is so badly under-resourced to police the sanctuary.  What has helped regulate the exploitation of the resources in the sanctuary has been the recognition by communities of traditional bye-laws and practices. 

Levels and Causes of Degradation: Historically, little or no farming was done within the boundaries of the sanctuary, however, as a result of breakdown of law enforcement and absence of management planning, more and more are encroaching on the land.  The original size of the sanctuary has been reduced lately when government decided to give land to the communities for farming.  Rice cultivation is widespread and occurs even within the boundaries of the sanctuary.  Siltation resulting from rice cultivation around the shores of the lakes is a potential threat to the ecology of these lakes.  Cattle grazing is another source of threat, especially now when herdsmen, who fled to Guinea during the war are returning to the area. 

The two wetlands of Dakraffi and Robierra provide fish for the local inhabitants who annually celebrate a fishing festival.  The pressure is especially high on the Robierra swamps during the dry season and this may deplete fish resources, if not controlled. Pressure through hunting is low to moderate and this is probably a result of the control exerted by the game guards.  There is usually an increased incidence of hunting of the threatened Dwarf Crocodile during festive ceremonies at Ronietta.  Spur-winged Geese and other ducks become victims when big game becomes scarce. Wild bush fires are frequent during the dry season, causing degradation to the remnants of forest in the sanctuary. 

The rate of degradation of the biological resources is approaching alarming proportions.  This is evident in the low encounter rates and the degraded status of the different vegetation types. 

However, the sanctuary provides a great potential for ecotourism development, if its biodiversity could be properly managed. 

Community Participation: The population of the main villages in the Mamunta-Mayosso area could be estimated at between 1000 to 2000 people.  There are between 15 and 20 villages in the area, thus a total population of between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, with a relatively low population density.  Ideally, the pressure on the resources of the sanctuary should be moderate. The establishment of the sanctuary resulted from an agreement between past traditional leaders, most of whom are now deceased.  The current leaders appear to know about the agreement, but are dissatisfied with the failure of government to fulfil its obligations and the apparent lack of contact and consultation between government and the communities. 

Existing Conservation Initiatives: Except for the traditional bye-laws and myths that control the exploitation of resources in the sanctuary, no conservation initiatives exist in the area. 

Recommendations

• Particularly traditional leaders (but also the village people) need to be informed, educated and sensitized about the agreement that helped set up the sanctuary. 
• Reinforcing human capacity at the site level. 
• Re-demarcation of reserve boundaries. 
• Development of a participatory management plan for the area.