Mpanga/Kipengere Game Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Mpanga / Kipengere Game Reserve; A Biodiversity Survey
1. INTRODUCTION
In a collaborative venture, the Wildlife Division (Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism) and the
Worldwide Fund for Nature–Tanzania Programme Office (WWF-TPO) are working to manage and protect
the Mpanga/Kipengere Game Reserve in the Southern Highlands. Although the area’s valuable water
catchment properties are well documented, little is known of its biodiversity value. In order to rectify this
situation, in early 2002 WWF-TPO approached the Frontier-Tanzania Forest Research Programme (FT
FRP) to conduct a detailed baseline biodiversity survey of the reserve 1 . Jointly funded by both
organisations, the survey was completed over two 10-week fieldwork ‘phases’ during late 2002 and early
2003, one phase coinciding with the dry season and one with the wet. This arrangement allowed temporal
variations in species and habitats to be investigated and accounted for.
The objectives of the Mpanga/Kipengere Game Reserve Biodiversity Survey are:
1. To conduct a biological survey as a baseline against which future monitoring activities may be based in
order to detect changes in biodiversity status;
2. To provide information on the biological value of different sites within the area and assist in the
identification of areas most suitable for biodiversity conservation;
3. To provide information on human disturbance and levels of resource use;
4. To train Tanzanian personnel from USDM, expatriate volunteers and any others (project participants)
in biological survey techniques;
5. To provide a medium through which there is potential for project participants to gain the BTEC
qualification Tropical Habitat Conservation (equivalent to a British A-level), funding dependent;
6. To raise awareness of the biodiversity values of the Southern Highlands nationally and internationally
through discovery of unique taxa;
7. To contribute to global biodiversity assessment and conservation efforts through collaboration with
specialists elsewhere.
This report serves to detail the findings of the FT FRP biodiversity survey of the Mpanga/Kipengere Game
Reserve. It provides an inventory of flora and fauna compiled throughout both phases of fieldwork,
highlighting records of particular interest. An assessment of the level of human resource-use within the area
is also made, giving the extent and potential threat of each form of ‘disturbance’ recorded. This report is
aimed at managers, conservationists and scientists alike and it is hoped that it will help in some way to
ensure the future protection of this extremely valuable and interesting site.
1 The FT FRP (a collaboration between the University of Dar es Salaam and UK based Society for Environmental Exploration) has
been successfully undertaking such surveys of Tanzania’s Eastern Arc and Coastal forests since 1989 and has produced a number
of reports detailing their findings.
Frontier Tanzania Environmental Research Report 99
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