Côte Aftissate-Boujdour

The Côte Aftissate-Boujdour is a Ramsar site that stretches along 50 km of the Western Sahara coast south of Boujdour. It includes the fishing village of Aftissat.

Location
The Côte Aftissate-Boujdour is located in Jraifia commune, Boujdour Province in the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra region. The protected area covers 117 km2. It extends along the Atlantic coast for 50 km. The site was designated on 16 April 2019. Along this section of the coast a beach and mobile dunes separate the sea from a continuous low-lying furrow of land below a 70 m high sea cliff.

Ecology
The Côte Aftissate-Boujdour is at the southern edge of the Palearctic ecozone. The climate is strongly influenced by coastal upwelling. The wetland is a resting area for Palearctic seabirds, waders and land migrants, and for passerines in particular. Over 1% of the biogeographic population of species such as the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) are found in the wetland in winter. The dry area is home to the endemic gecko Saurodactylus brosseti and other rare and endemic species.