Rugezi Marsh

The Rugezi Marsh is a protected area, covering 6,735 hectares (16,640 acres). The wetland is one of headwaters of the Nile, situated in the Northern Province within the Buberuka Highlands. At 2,100 metres (6,900 ft), the marsh is a high altitude peat bog. Rugezi developed from an accumulation of organic materials within a quartzite rock-trapping water depression. In its natural state, Rugezi has been playing a significant ecological, hydrological, socio-economical, historic, and recreational role in Rwanda. It is also an Important Bird Area (IBA) recognized by the Bird Life International in 2001, and is reported to be the habitat of 43 species of birds within and in the surrounding areas of the marsh; the area of IBA is identified as ha8,500 hectares (21,000 acres). The specific species of Grauer's Swamp Warbler Bradypterus graueri and White-winged Swamp Warbler Bradypterus carpalis living together is reported as "unusual" by BirdLife International.

Avifauna

Of the 43 species of birds (all are resident birds) in the marsh and its surrounding Afrotropical Highlands biome, the globally threatened species under defined categories are the following:

Bradypterus graueri (Grauer's swamp-warbler) (EN)
Laniarius mufumbiri (Papyrus gonolek) (NT)
Chloropeta gracilirostris (Papyrus yellow warbler) (VU)

Apart from the above, some of the species of least concern are the following:

Cisticola carruthersi (Carruthers's cisticola)
Bradypterus carpalis (White-winged scrub-warbler)
Onychognathus tenuirostris (Slender-billed starling)
Ploceus baglafecht (Baglafecht weaver)
Nesocharis ansorgei (White-collared oliveback)
Serinus frontalis (Yellow-browed citril)
Serinus koliensis (Papyrus canary)
Serinus burtoni (Thick-billed seedeater)

Publications on Rugezi Marsh

Hategekimana, Sylvère; Twarabamenye, Emmanuel (2007). "The impact of wetlands degradation on water resources management in Rwanda: the case of Rugezi Marsh". Paper presented at the International Symposium on Hydrology. Cairo, Egypt.