Miombo Ecoregion Vision Report - Biodiversity Foundation for Africa

Miombo Ecoregion Report, page 53
the way of land use conflict, and community-based conservation programmes are operation in
places. Agricultural potential (except under irrigation) is very low.
10. GAZA / KRUGER / GONAREZHOU
An extensive transfrontier area covering much of the western part of Mozambique between the
Save and Limpopo rivers, the newly-gazetted Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, the
northern section of the Kruger National Park in South Africa and adjacent game farms, and
Gonarezhou National Park, adjacent communal lands and the Save, Chiredzi and Malilangwe
conservancies in Zimbabwe. It is mostly a hot, dry and low-lying area associated with the
Limpopo and Save valleys. Vegetation is principally mopane woodland, Acacia and Acacia–
Combretum woodlands, with Burkea–Terminalia woodland on sandy soils. There are patches of
rare and sometimes unique vegetation types on particular soils, such as Brachystegia
tamarinoides woodland, Guibourtia conjugata thicket, Androstachys dry forest/thicket, riparian
woodland along the larger rivers, and saline grassland and pans in the Rio Changane area. Even
though it is a large area, there is a very wide range of habitats represented here.
Plant species richness is high for such an arid area and is around 1000 species. There are about
20 endemics/near-endemics, and it appears to form part of a centre of radiation, the middle
Limpopo lowveld, for a group of Acacia species (the 'glandular' complex). Mammal diversity is
high and includes good populations of elephant, white rhino, black rhino (the latter two only in
the Kruger), tsessebe, nyala, cheetah, giraffe and wild dog. Lichenstein's Hartebeest is a
threatened species found here. Three endemic small mammals are found. There is significant
movement of large mammals across the area, especially elephant between Gonarezhou and
Chicualacuala. There is a possibility of reestablishing movement between areas 9 and 10. Bird
diversity is high (433 species in Kruger National Park alone) and there are three IBAs – Kruger
National Park in South Africa, Limpopo/Mwenezi pans and Save/Runde junction in Zimbabwe.
The former contains some globally threatened species and more than 1% of global populations of
others, while the latter two contain significant numbers of range-restricted species, including the
Lemon-breasted Canary. The abundant, seasonally-flooded pans of the Changane area of
Mozambique are of major significance for migratory waterfowl. Two centres of high
reptile/amphibian diversity are included with 50 reptile and 30 amphibian species, including 6
endemic reptiles (Typhlosaurus richardi, T. fitzsimonsi, Nucras caesicaudata, Chirindia langi,
Monopeltis decosteri, Xenocalamus sabiensis) and populations of a number of relict Kalahari
species (e.g. Nucrus intertexta) and fossorial reptiles typical of coastal alluvium (e.g.
Typhlosaurus aurantiacus, Zygaspis vandami, Typhlops fornasinii). An endemic fish,
Nothobranchius furzeri, is known from only a few pans in Gonarezhou.
A significant portion of the area is conserved as national park (Gonarezhou, Banhine, Zinave,
Limpopo, Kruger) or as private conservancies or game farms (Malilangwe, Save, Chiredzi, farms
adjacent to Kruger), while community-based wildlife management is practised in some
communal lands (e.g. Sengwe, Mahenye, north of Kruger NP). However, there are numerous
wildlife-human conflicts over crops and cattle, the latter owing to endemic foot-and-mouth
disease and bovine tuberculosis (TB) and the necessity to keep cattle and wildlife apart.
Livestock production is very significant in the area. There is a danger of increasing habitat
fragmentation caused by settlement, agricultural expansion and habitat destruction (especially
dry forest/thicket) by elephant. In Mozambique there is a significant threat from cutting of
Androstachys and mopane wood for charcoal production. The future of private conservancies in
Zimbabwe is very uncertain in the face of current land reforms. Tourism potential is high, and
much of the area has been designated a TFCA so that land management and regulations will
become harmonised and tourism planned more holistically.