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Quarter degree square: 1231A3 Country: Zambia Habitat: Predominantly miombo (80%).The area is characterised by granite whaleback inselbergs. Altitude range: 1360-1685 m Annual rainfall: 851-950 mm Location (short): Muchinga Province Location (detailed): This private conservation area protects a beautiful tract of wild and undisturbed terrain south of Mpika, lying between the Great North Road and the Muchinga Escarpment. |
The vegetation is pre-dominantly miombo (covering c.80% of the site) with a particularly high incidence of Proteas, epiphytic orchids and lichens such as Usnea. The area is characterised by granite whaleback inselbergs. These are particularly numerous, cover about 7.5% of the area and range from small outcrops to imposing mountains. The tallest, at 1685m, is Mount Mayense which sits in the south-eastern corner of the property. Mutinondo's inselbergs have their own vegetation, dominated by Xerophyta equisetoides and shrubs such as Vernonia bellinghamii, Ozoroa reticulata subsp. insignis and Iboza riparia. Characteristic species of the rock surface are Myrothamnus flabellifolius, the mat-forming sedge Coleochloa setifera, and tussock grasses such as Microchloa indica and Loudetia simplex. Inselberg seepage sites include ferns, sedges and semi-aquatics such as Drosera spp. and Xyris spp. (Smith 2003). There are many dambos (covering about 9.4% of the site), some rather dry with numerous small Cubitermes termite mounds and others spongy and permanently wet. These drain into several rivers along which there are waterfalls, thin strips of riparian forest and occasional patches of mushitu. Such forest covers about 3.1 % of the area and dominant trees includeSyzygium cordatum, Agauria salicifolia and Uapaca lissopyrena. The botanical diversity is high and initial surveys have recorded more than 400 species (Smith ibid.). The recent find of a single specimen of Cycad Encephalartos schmitzii represents considerable extension of the known range in Zambia (Smith 2003).
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