Mali Geography
Mali is located in West Africa; in what was formerly French West Africa, between parallels 10.o and 25.o N and between 4.o E and the 12.o W. It limits to the west with Senegal and Mauritania, to the north with Algeria, to the east with Niger, to the south with Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast and to the southwest with Guinea.
The population was 14.5 million in 2009, basically rural. The main cities are Bamako, Kati, Kayes, Koulikoro, Ségou, Mopti, Sikasso, Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal.
Relief
The territory of Mali is very extensive and quite varied; slightly undulating, with heights between 250 and 500 m. Four large groups make up the relief: the Sudano-Saharan sandstone plateaus (Mandinka plateau or Manding mountains, Bandiagara cliffs and Hombori mountains), the Sudano-Saharan hills and plains, the interior Niger delta and the Adrar massif of the Iforas, with its ergs and its peaks.
Mali is crossed from west to east by the Niger River, which passes through the capital Bamako and the outskirts of Timbuktu (7 kilometers away). In the westernmost part of the country is the Senegal River, which will later serve as the natural border between Mauritania and Senegal.
The north of the country, bounded by the border with Mauritania, the Niger River, the border with Algeria and the border with Niger, is dominated by the Sahara desert. Here in the north are the mines of Taoudenni and the Trimetine mountains, located in the bend that forms the border between Algeria and Niger. The main cities in northern Mali are Timbuktu and Gao.
In the south-central part of the country, between the border with Burkina Faso and the upper course of the Niger River, is the Koutiala plateau, which culminates in the Dogon cliff, at an altitude of 791 m, one of the main tourist centers from the country. To the east, it is extended by some residual elevations in the Hombori mountains, whose culminating point, the Hombori Tondo, is 1,155 m.
Between Bamako and the Guinean border is the Mandingo Plateau, which culminates at 800 m. To the north of the country are the Hodh plains, between 260 and 320 m, and the immense Taoudeni basin, shared with Mauritania. Timbuktu, which is located on the edge of this basin, is one of the warmest areas on the globe. Further west, on the border with Senegal, are the Bambouk Mountains, where gold has been mined for centuries and bordered by the Tambaoura escarpment, and, on the border with Guinea, the extension of the Manding Mountains, of sandstone, of the latter country, which reach 450 m in altitude.
The rest of the country is fairly flat. It should be noted that the land is more fertile the further south we go, one of the richest regions in terms of land being the one that borders the Ivory Coast.
Adrar of the Iforas
This broad crystalline plateau to the east of the Kidal region, covers about 250,000 km² and lies between 1 and 18.o north latitude. It has a brownish and chaotic surface. the average altitude is 600 m and the highest point is 890 m. To the north, a fragment of Hoggar sandstone outcrops. The Tilemsi Depression, oriented from north to south, borders the depression on the west and joins it to the Niger. The climate is of the Sahelian type on the western slope and in the valleys, where, due to its relief, the monsoon makes it rain even a little more than in the rest of the Sahara, around 150 mm. These sporadic rains give rise to fleeting vegetation that turns the fields green enough to attract the Tuaregs with their herds of zebu. There are hardly any trees, except in the valleys, some meager palm groves and a few plantations of millet and wheat.
Adrar is the Tamasheq word for mountain, and Iforas is the name of the Tuareg clan that lives in the region, although its inhabitants are called Kel Adrar (or Adagh): the people of the Adrar. The French called it that to differentiate it from the Adrar region of Mauritania. The Tuareg, with their zebus, are the only ones to enter the mountains; otherwise, there are gazelles, antelopes, hyenas and jackals. Features of the landscape include granite outcrops, eroded sandstone, gueltas (depressions where water collects from a rising wadi or upwelling), rock art, petrified forests, and river basins.
The settlements include Ahgeibara, Aguelhok, Essouk, Tessalit and Tin-Essako. Tessalit is located on the border between Mali and Algeria, and has some gypsum and salt mines. Essouk is known as the cradle of the Tuareg, and is believed to be between the IX and XII was a prosperous stopover for caravans. It has cave paintings from 8000 years ago. At the end of the 11th century, the Berbers drove the blacks out of the Adrar and in the XVI This region was part of the Songhai Empire. In 2013, the war raging in northern Mali moved to the Adrar Mountains, where jihadism was hunted down and bombed by French troops in Operation Serval.
Bandiagara Cliff
It is part of the Dogon Plateau, in south-central Mali, east of the inner Niger Delta. Centered on the village of Sangha and surrounded by the roads and paths that link the villages of Diankabou, Bankas, Ouo, Bandiagara, Dé and Berdossou. The escarpment proper, between the Bandiagara plateau to the west and the Séno plain to the east, extends from southwest to northeast for 150 km, and varies in height from 100 m south to 500 m in the north. It is broken by ravines, gorges and rocky passes that connect the plain with the plateau. Near Sangha there are both cliffs and rock outcroppings. The Séno plain, about 250 m high, consists of sandy steppes and wetlands or flooded depressions with scattered trees, and is dissected by rocky banks that are seasonally filled with water. The plateau, whose height varies between 400 and 500 m, with a peak of 777 m at Bamba, has typical Sudanese savannah flora, with Daniella oliveri, shea and others. Vegetation is only dense on the banks and crevices where water accumulates. In the lower parts there are acacias, Combretum, the introduced tamarinds and others. It is considered an area of interest for birds by BirdLife International. Among the animal species there are pale foxes, wild dogs and dorca and dama gazelles.
The Bandiagara Cliffs as a World Heritage Site comprise a vast cultural landscape encompassing 289 villages spread across the three natural regions, the Plain, the Cliffs and the Sandstone Plateau. The communities here are essentially the Dogon, who have integrated their sacred customs and rituals with the landscape.
Nigerian Floodplain
Comprising the large floodplain of the Niger River and a series of lakes in the north. The maximum extension of the inundation, which varies remarkably, occupies an area of 36,470 km², including dikes, dunes and other islands in the area. It can be divided into different regions: The southern delta includes the southern part of the central lakes with the Niger and Diaka as main arms, and with Djenné, in the extreme south, and Mopti as main settlements. The lower delta comprises the central lakes: Débo (about 160 km² and the largest), Walado Débo (Oualado-Débo) and Korientzé. To the north of the lakes, the character of the delta changes, with dunes running from east to west interspersed with flooded areas; the main branches are the Niger and the Bara Issa; this part extends to Timbuktu in the north.
To the north are a series of lakes that run west to east along the flank of the delta. The lakes on the western shore - including Lake Figuibine - can stay full year-round if the rains are normal, although dry years have prevailed lately. This water is used in local agriculture. The lakes on the eastern slope only fill up when the flood is significant.
The entire area of the inner Niger Delta is a Ramsar site, with an area of 41,195 km², including lakes Horo (189 km²), Séri (400 km²) and Walado Debo/Debo (1,031 km²). The area is a refuge for up to 350 species of migratory birds, of which 103 are aquatic. In winter, four aquatic ecosystems are distinguished: the Niger and Bani rivers, 19 lakes, a large number of pools and the flooded plains (Djenné, Diondiori, Séri). Nearly 1 million people live in the area who practice agriculture, fishing, navigation, tourism, etc. The landscape is defined as flooded savannah of the inner Niger-Bani delta.
Taoudeni Basin
It is an important sedimentary geological formation of West Africa, measuring 1.5 million km² and named after the people of Taoudeni, located in northern Mali. It occupies large tracts of the West African craton in Mauritania, Mali, and the southwestern region of Burkina Faso. Some 700,000 km², with a population of 70-140,000 people belong to Mali. This basin, which is the largest sedimentary syncline in northwest Africa, formed in the second half of the Proterozoic. Its active period of subsidence continued until the middle of the Paleozoic, when the Hercynian orogeny occurred and it emerged. It contains about 6,000 m of sediments from the Terminal Precambrian and Paleozoic. In some areas, these were covered by fine continental deposits from the Mesozoic-Cenozoic, especially the Quaternary dunes and lake systems. These last deposits attest to the geographical continuity between several basins, such as the Taoudéni/Tanezrouft basin, to the north, and the Taoudeni basin, which communicates with the Iullemeden basin, to the east. The water reserves of the Taoudeni basin are very abundant, but considering the current climate, with less than 150 mm rainfall in the center and north, the water extracted by human activity is not renewed. Rapid population growth is lowering the water table and degrading water quality.
The Taoudeni Basin is very rich in mineral, gas and oil resources. In 2004, about 700,000 km² were divided into 29 blocks and five sedimentary basins were designated to make concessions to different oil companies, but the entire region is pending war conflicts, which keep the area in a permanent militarization, shaken by the rebellion Tuareg of 1992, the uranium rebellion of 2007 and, after the fall of Gaddafi, the creation of the State of Azawad in 2012, which ended with the Serval operation, led by France.
Geology
Geologically, Mali consists of a vast plain of granite and clay schists covered by sandstone and alluvial quartz. Mali straddles two geological features, the West African craton to the west and the Tuareg shield to the southeast. Both formed at the end of the Precambrian era between 600 and 550 million years ago. The suture zone is to the west of the Adrar mountains of the Iforas.
The underlying rocks of the West African craton are overlain in the northwest by sediments from the Taoudeni Basin, which has two crystalline rock outcrops in the Reguibat Shield to the north in Mauritania and the Man Shield to the south, which include the outcrops of Buguni and Kéniéba, with valuable minerals. There are also oil reserves in the Taoudeni Basin.
Mali possesses bauxite, copper, diamonds, gold, granite, gypsum, iron, kaolin, clay, lithium, manganese, phosphates, salt, silver, uranium, and zinc. Not all deposits are exploited and not all are viable. It also has high hydroelectric potential.
Climate
Mali is located entirely in the torrid zone and is one of the hottest countries on the planet. The thermal equator, an imaginary line that joins the hottest places on the globe, crosses the country, which has three types of climate, from north to south.
The northern half of Mali, the largest, with the regions of Gao, northern Kidal and the northern two-thirds of Timbuktu, is also the driest, desert and almost entirely occupied by the Sahara north of the Niger River. In the extreme north, it practically does not rain; In the rest, the rains oscillate between 100 and 150 mm with maximums of 250 mm. In Tessalit, north of Kidal, at an altitude of 500 m, 68 mm fall on 14 days a year, between May and October, and temperatures range between 12.oC of January lows and 43.oC of the maximum in June, a month in which the average minimum is 28.oC.
The central half of Mali, between Mopti and Timbuktu, is crossed by the Sahel, the lows in January do not drop below 20.oC, while in April, May and June, they have maximum averages of 42.oC that can reach 47-48.oC. In Timbuktu, 183 mm fall on 25 days a year, between April and October, when the south monsoon blows and there are downpours. After October come four months of clear skies and bearable heat (14-30.oC).
In the south, irrigated by the Niger River and where the most important cities are (Bamako, Ségou...) the rains are more abundant. Already in Mopti, to the south of the interior delta of the Niger, 500 mm fall. Further south, in Bamako, 990 mm fall in 74 days, between April and October, exceeding 200 mm per month between July and September, and average maximum temperatures between March and May of 40.oC.
Kayes, west of the southern zone, close to Senegal and Mauritania, has average high temperatures of 44.oC in April and is known as "Africa's Pressure Cooker" as it can reach 50 in April and May.oC. However, it is even hotter to the north, in the Timbuktu region: in Arawán, the average maximum in June is 46.oC; in Taoudeni, it is 48.oC in July, and in Tessalit, on the Adrar of the Iforas, is 45.oC in June, with an insolation in the north of 3,800 hours, compared to 2,700 hours in the south.
Hydrography
Mali is crossed by two major rivers:
- the Niger River, which runs over the country 1700 km. Shortly before the large arch that will change its course to the south, in the center of the country, after receiving on the east side to the Bani river, which flows near the city of Mopti, is the inner delta of the Niger, between Timbuktu and Léré, a vast area flooded after the rainy season, in autumn, with a maximum of 41,000 km2. After the growth, the region is sprinkled with lakes, including the Débo lakes, Figuibine, Kabara, Tanda lakes, and thus up to seventeen notable lakes during the growing season. The Niger River Basin covers 578,850 km2 in Mali, 25.5 per cent of the total basin, 46.7 per cent of the country ' s area. Precipitations vary in the basin between 45 and 1500 mm, with an average of 440 mm.
- the Senegal River, with its tributaries from Guinea, the Bafing, Baoulé and Falemé rivers. The union of Bafing and Baoulé leads to the Senegal River in the Malian city of Bafoulabé, 400 km from Bamako, in the south-west end of Mali. The Senegal River Basin covers an extension in Mali of 139,098 km2, 28.8% of the total river basin and 11.2% of the country's surface. Rainfalls in the basin range from 455 mm to 1410 mm, with an average of 855 mm.
In Mali there are two important reservoirs, Manantali, on the Bafing River, with a surface area of 477 km², and Selingué, on the Sankarani River, a right-hand tributary of the Niger, about 60 km from the border with Guinea, with an area of 400 km². The Selingué dam is used mainly to produce hydroelectric power, but it also allows 60,000 ha to be irrigated. Two other dams, one in Sotuba, downstream from Bamako, and the other in Markala, downstream from Ségou, serve to irrigate some 100,000 ha in the so-called Office du Niger, a crop area in the inner Niger delta that constitutes one of the largest irrigation projects on the African continent and which produces about 500,000 tons of rice per year.
The annual flood of the Niger River
The flooding of the Inland Niger River Delta and the Figuibine system of five lakes located north of the river and in the middle of the desert (less than 200 mm annual precipitation), depends on the height of the annual flooding of the river as a result of abundant rains in Guinea and in the basin of its tributary, the Bani River, both in the Ivory Coast and in southwestern Mali. In all these areas, the peak of the rain is in August. The amount of rain, and therefore the height of the flood, varies from year to year. In good years, such as between 1924 and 1930 and between 1951 and 1955, the lakes fill up completely. In years with little rain, they dry out completely. In the 20th century, this has happened in 1914, 1924, and 1944 and has occurred frequently since the severe drought that began in the late from the 1970s. The low water levels have been exacerbated by the construction of dams on the Niger River or its tributaries that retain the flood and attenuate the flow of water as much as possible. Of the existing dams, the most significant is the Selingué, on the Sankarani River, near the border with Guinea, in Mali, which gives rise to Lake Sélingué, which stores 2.2 km³ of water. There are plans to build a new dam, the Fomi Reservoir, on the Niandan River, a tributary of the Niger in Guinea that would store three times as much water.
Plans to improve the connection between the Niger River and Lake Figuibine by cutting some of the meanders of the Kondi channel were interrupted by the Tuareg rebellion of 1990-1996. During the 1980s, water scarcity already generated intense competition for water and local people obstructed the free flow of water by setting up fish traps.
In 2006, the Mali government created the "Office pour la Mise en Valeur du système Faguibine" (OMVF) (Office for the Recovery of the Faguibine System) to maintain the channels and stabilize the sand dunes with the planting of Euphorbia balsamifera and eucalyptus trees. Due to the drought of the 1970s, the sand had invaded the canals.
Office of Niger
Office du Niger is a government agency that manages an irrigation mega-project of the same name in the Segou region of Mali, in the inner delta area of the Niger River. The project began in 1920 under French rule to produce cotton, but, after independence, it turned to rice in order to produce food. The project covers an extension of 100,000 ha of irrigated land from a system of canals that come out of the Markala reservoir, 35 km downstream from Segú and the production of rice can reach 500,000 tons.
The Markala Reservoir, with a 2,450 m long dam, was built between 1934 and 1945 in the commune of Markala. The largest is a series that includes Selengué (0.83 km³) and Sotuba (0.2 km³). Markala steals 2.7 km³ of water from the Niger River for irrigation and leaves it 28.2 km³. However, the Selingué reservoir is the one that has the greatest effect on the environment, since it lowers the Niger flood level by between 20 and 25 cm. Markala has the sole objective of diverting water towards the agricultural area of Office du Niger.
Irrigation, by flooding, has the main purpose of producing rice during the rainy season, but it also produces sugar cane and fruit. Office du Niger is divided into seven production zones: Nioni, Ke-Macina, N'Debougou, M'Bewani, Molodo, Kouroumari and Kolongo. The system uses two northerly running channels of the river for about 135 km that would normally only fill during floods.
Ecosystems
Mali can be divided into four ecological zones based on climate, soil and topography: the Saharan steppe, the Sahelian steppe, the Sudanese zone and the Sudano-Guinean zone.
The Saharan steppe, north of the Saharan zone, receives rainfall from 0 to 150 mm. The herbaceous vegetation consists of Cornulaca monacantha, Panicum turgidum and Aristida pungens. In the sub-Saharan steppe (150-250 mm), vegetation is concentrated in wadis and streams, with short-cycle annual herbaceous species such as Aristida hordaceae and Morettia philaeana and shrubs of Acacia ehrenbergiana, Acacia tortilis, Balanites aegyptiaca and Maeura crassifolia (a shell that is eaten by camels). The vegetation is more abundant in the depressions and in the beds of the wadis, as far as the floods reach. Grasses of the genus Aristida and Panicum turgidum grow in the dunes.
The Sahelian steppe (250-500 mm) has xerophytic and open vegetation on the northern dunes, with grasses dominated by Cenchrus biflorus, Aristida mutabilis and Schoenfeldia gracilis, and acacias in the shrub layer (Acacia senegal), while in the south it is mesophyllous, concentrated in depressions and in floodplains with perennial species such as Echinochloa stagnina, Oryza barthii and Vossia cuspidata. On the plateaus, the lateritic shells are colonized by Combretum nigricans, Guiera senegalensis, Lannea acida and Sclerocaraya birrea. Combretaceous species and large-sized species abound among herbaceous species.
The Sudanese zone (800-1400 mm) is a savannah zone with complete herbaceous cover, with species such as Andropogon pseudapricus, Cymbopogon giganteus and Pennisetum perdcellatum , and among the trees that dot the savannah Vitellaria paradoxa, Parkia biglobosa, Sclerocarraya birrea and Lannea acida i>.
The Sudano-Guinean zone (over 1000 mm) is dominated by woodland and open forest, with large herbaceous species of the genus Hyparrhenia and shrubs of the type Daniellia oliveri and Isoberlina doka.
Human Geography
Mali, with a largely rural population, is experiencing increasing urbanization. The urban population, estimated at 3.3 million inhabitants in 2006, one third of the population, will reach 12 million in 2025, half of the total population. This transfer to the cities, often anarchic, causes numerous consequences: reduction of green spaces, occupation of riverbeds with unsanitary problems and risks of flooding, a significant increase in urban waste that is not treated, the proliferation of wild dumps and an aggravation of health problems. Air pollution is also a growing problem, especially in the capital, Bamako, due to the consumption of wood for cooking and fossil fuels for industry and motor vehicles.
Transport network
Community transport is guaranteed by private bus companies, which complete the offer with coaches and collective taxis in minibuses.
In the southwestern half, in the lower part of the Niger, around Bamako, river transport has been of great importance for a long time: the transport of freight and passengers is done aboard the traditional pinasses (pinnaces), the traditional canoes, widely used.
Mali benefits from large railway lines, most of them built or started at the beginning of French colonization, such as the 584 km Dakar-Niger railway, which links Bamako to the Senegalese border, and is extended by a branch Senegalese 644 km to the international port of Dakar. In 1888, this line reached Bafoulabé, in western Mali. Bamako was connected in 1904 and today it reaches Kulikoró, 59 km from the capital. The state of the network, however, is mediocre, due to the fact that they were carried out in colonial times, and derailments and other accidents are frequent. Since 2015, the exploitation belongs to Dakar-Bamako-Ferroviaire, a joint venture between Mali and Senegal. Since 2014, it is planned to rebuild the railway network with the construction company China Railway Construction.
Mali's road network in 2000 represented a total of 18,560 km, of which 4,450 km were paved, a density of 28 km of road for every 1000 km², due to the sparse population, but also an uneven distribution, since more than 17% of the population benefits from a road less than 2 km away, but roads are very rare in the north of the country.
The largest airport in the country, the Bamako-Sénou International Airport, recorded two hundred thousand trips in 2009, despite prohibitive ticket prices, the majority to Paris. The rest of the airports, the most important of which are those of Kayes, Timbuktu and Mopti, represent barely 30,000 passengers per year. The national company Air Mali has suspended its activity on several occasions.
Population and ethnic groups of Mali
The population of Mali, estimated at 19.6 million inhabitants in 2019 (the last verified was 14.85 million in 2013), consists of sub-Saharan ethnic groups, among which the most abundant are the Bambara, some 2.7 million in 2007. These groups share historical, cultural and religious traditions, with the exception of two northern ethnic groups that are nomadic, the Tuareg and the Moors (applied to the Berbers of western North Africa), of Arab-Berber origin and that they are the majority in Mauritania. In Mali and Niger, the nomadic Moors are also known as Azawad Arabs, originating from the Sahara region called Azawad, which covers Niger, northeast Mali and southern Algeria, and speak the Hassanian language.
By order of population, the main ethnic groups are: Bambara 34.1%, Fulani (Peul or Fula) 14.7%, Soninke 10.8%, Senufo 10.5%, Dogon 8.9%, Mandinka 8.7%, Bobo 2.9%, Songhai 1.6%, Tuareg 0.9%, other Malians 6.1%, other West Africans 0.3% and other countries 0.4%.
Ethnic groups
The percentage profile of the different ethnic groups is estimated in 2012-2013. 94.8% of the population is Muslim, 2.4% are Christians, 2% are animists, and the rest are unknown.
- Bambara (34.1%
- Fulani (14.7%)
- Soninké !0.8%)
- Senufo (10.5%)
- Dogon (8.9%)
- Mandinga (8.7%)
- Bozo. More than half a million. Bozo, for the bambara, means straw house, in reference to the temporary housings built to fish. In fact, there are three different villages that speak four varieties of the language. They live in the flood plains of the Niger and Bani River, in rectangular houses of brick. They are fishermen (known as water teachers), although they also grow rice and millet. There are another group of fishers in Mali called somono, but they are an ethnic mix of other peoples: bambara, soninké, bozo, etc.
- Songhai (1.6%)
- Tuareg (0.9%)
- other Malians (6.1%)
- of African States (0.3 per cent)
- of other countries (0.4 per cent)
Demographic profile
90% of Mali's population lives in the south, between the Niger and Senegal rivers, far from the Sahara. 68% is rural, with 5 to 10% nomadic. The average age is estimated at around 15.9 years, with a birth rate of 6.4 children per woman, the third highest in the world, and a mortality rate of 5.87 per 1,000 births.
The population is expected to double by 2035, due to the permanent high fertility rate, which begins at a very young age, and the lack of education of women, poverty and low use of contraceptive methods.
Mali has a long history of migration due to poverty, conflict, population pressure, unemployment, food insecurity and drought. Many Malians from rural areas migrate to nearby cities or towns during the dry period in search of work. Shepherds move south in search of pasture. Some go to neighboring countries, such as the Ivory Coast. Since the 1990s, Mali has been a transit country to go to Europe, and traffickers exploit the transit routes to smuggle drugs, weapons or tobacco.
Tuareg conflict
In 2012, an armed conflict led the Tuareg to declare secession from a large region of the Sahara, turning it into a new state called Azawad. The return of the militiamen who were fighting in Libya in 2011 led the Tuareg to revolt in January 2012, and the troops overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure. The efforts of the Economic Community of West African States returned the civil administration to power with the appointment of Dioncounda Traoré as interim president for five months. During the coup, the rebels expelled the army from Mali's three northern regions, which remained in the hands of Islamic militants, causing hundreds of thousands of Malians to flee south and to neighboring countries, most notably Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso. An international military intervention led by France recovered most of the territory in a month, and in 2013, in an election, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, currently in office, was elected president. A peace agreement was signed in June 2015, but by 2017 three major terrorist organizations had consolidated in the north, trying to unite. Keïta was re-elected president in 2018.
Protected areas of Mali
According to the IUCN, there are 30 protected areas in Mali covering 103,445 km², 8.23% of the country's total 1,256,684 km². In this set there are 2 national parks, 1 chimpanzee sanctuary (Parc du Bafing Makana), 8 hunting areas, 4 partial fauna reserves and 9 total fauna reserves. To this must be added 1 biosphere reserve (Baoulé), a World Heritage site (the Bandiagara cliffs) and 4 Ramsar sites.
In Mali itself, they consider the Loop of Baulé as a national park, although it is made up of several entities, the Badinko, Fina and Kongossambougou parks, plus a transition buffer zone of 19,670 km², and is considered by Unesco as a reserve of the biosphere. To the west of this park, the Bafing Makana Biosphere Reserve is also given national park status, comprising several reserves, including Kurufing and Wongo National Parks and the Bafing Chimpanzee Sanctuary, plus a series of protection zones that would extend its extension from 1,765 km² to 3,326 km².
National Parks
- Wongo National Park, 535 km2
- Kurufing National Park (Kouroufing), 558 km2
Biosphere Reserves
- Bafing Makana Biosphere Reserve. It includes the national parks of Wongo and Kurufing, and the Shimance shrine of Bafing. With the name of Bafing Falémé adds the natural reserves (or fauna) of Mandé Wula and Nema Wula, and the ZIC (Zones of kinetic interest) of Flawa and Gadugu (Gadougou), which extend the protected area to 332,639 ha.
- UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of the Boucle du Baoulé, 9180 km2, plus a protection zone that extends to more than 25,330 km2. 200 km northwest of Bamako in West Mali. It is also called Boucle du Baoulé National Park.
- Sanctuary of Chimpanzees de Bafing, 672 km2. Created in 2002, west of Lake Manantali, in the Bafing River basin, a tributary of Senegal, to protect the northernmost reserve of West Chimpanze Africa. It has a special status allowing the existence of villages within the sanctuary.
Partial wildlife reserves
- Siankadougou, 60 km2
- Partial reserve of Gourma elephants, 12,500 km2. The area known as Gourma, in Mali, extends over 83,000 km2 east of Mali, between the Niger River, north, and the border with Burkina Faso, where the hills and cliffs of the Dogon are located, between the regions of Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao.
- Partial reserve of giraffes of Ansongo-Ménaka, 17,500 km2. Created south of the Gao region, in the border area with Niger, in 1950, to protect the giraffes, who have disappeared completely.
- Baninfing Baoulé, 130 km2
Total wildlife reserves
- Sounsan, 370 km2
- Talikourou, 130 km2
- Mandé Wula, 390 km2
- Kéniébaoulé, 675 km2
- Néma Wula, 447 km2
- Nienendougou, 406 km2
- Djinetoumanina, 161 km2
- Djangoumerila, 576 km2
- Dialakoro, 299 km2
Areas of hunting interest
- Tidermene-Alata, 3124 km2
- Flawa, 739 km2
- Salam (Azaouad Northwest), 12.160 km2
- Faragama, 327 km2
- Tin Achara, 286 km2
- Banzana, 444 km2
- Nienendougou, 504 km2
- Inekar, 1806 km2
Ramsar Sites
- Suru (Sourou), 565 km2
- Niger interior delta, 41,195 km2
- Lake Magui, 247 km2
- Lake Wegnia, 3,900 ha