Mali - The Gourma Elephant Biodiversity Reserve

The area called Gourma in Mali concerns three regions (Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao). The area covers 83 million hectares (about 83,000 km²) in eastern Mali, between the Niger River and the Burkina Faso border. The Gourma is bordered to the north and east by the Niger River, to the west and south by the hills and cliffs of the Dogon country. The Gourma is a vast area that covers large rock formations, dunes, plains, ponds, lakes and elephants. It is also a place par excellence for the extensive breeding of cattle, sheep, goats in transhumance of the regions of Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao. A low-density area (about 5.4 inhabitants / km²), the populations living there are agro-pastoralists, semi-nomadic pastoralists and transhumant nomads.