Eswatini

África

165

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa and yet it strings together four clearly distinct ecological steps in barely two hundred kilometres: the mountainous, humid highveld of the west, the middleveld of hills, the warm lowveld of thorn savannah and the Lubombo mountains, which form the eastern border. That sequence concentrates a remarkable diversity of plants and birds for its size. Malolotja, in the northwest, protects high-altitude grassland, waterfalls and some of the oldest rocks on the planet, with formations more than three billion years old. In the lowveld, Hlane and Mkhaya hold elephants, white and black rhinoceroses, lions and one of the most important vulture populations in the region, with well-established roosts and breeding colonies.

The nature of Eswatini

National animal: No official national animal; the lion and the elephant represent the king and the queen mother on the state coat of arms

Did you know?

By the middle of the twentieth century the country's wildlife had been almost entirely wiped out by hunting. The recovery began on a family farm turned into a private sanctuary by its owner in the early 1960s, where species were reintroduced one by one until whole communities had been rebuilt. That domestic project ended up giving rise to the network of parks that protects the country's wildlife today.

Biodiversity profile

Africa Austral (pais sin litoral, antes Suazilandia)Aprox. 5% del territorio bajo areas de conservacion formales e informales

Climate

•Templado de montaña en el Highveld (oeste, mas fresco)
•Tropical con estacion seca (Aw) en el Lowveld (este, mas calido)

Main biomes

•Pastizal y bosque montano en el Highveld
•Sabana en el Lowveld
•Montañas Lubombo en la frontera este con Mozambique
•Sabana espinosa de lowveld
•Pradera de highveld
•Bosque de niebla de montaña
•Bosque ribereño
•Sierra de Lubombo
•Cascada y garganta
•Matorral de middleveld

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•No aplica (pais sin litoral)

Flagship wildlife

•Rinoceronte blanco y negro (poblaciones reintroducidas)
•Elefante de sabana
•Leon africano (reintroducido)
•Antilope ruano
•Rinoceronte blanco
•Rinoceronte negro
•Elefante africano de sabana
•Buitre dorsiblanco africano
•Antílope sable
•Ñu azul
•Hipopótamo
•Cocodrilo del Nilo
•Águila cafre

Notable endemic species

•Mas de 2.400 especies de plantas y 820 especies de vertebrados registradas en un territorio muy reducido, con endemismos compartidos con el vecino Escarpe Limpopo-Mpumalanga-Eswatini, uno de los centros de endemismo de plantas mas ricos de Africa Austral
•Cicadácea de Kaapsehoop

Notable threatened species

•Rinoceronte negro (En Peligro Critico, poblacion reintroducida bajo vigilancia antifurtiva)
•Especies de pastizal montano bajo presion de fragmentacion

Notable protected areas

•Reserva de Vida Silvestre de Hlane (elefantes, leones, rinocerontes)
•Santuario de Vida Silvestre de Mlilwane
•Reserva Natural de Malolotja
•Parque Nacional Real de Hlane
•Reserva de Mkhaya
•Santuario de Fauna de Mlilwane
•Reserva de Mlawula
•Reserva de Mantenga

Main conservation threats

•Degradacion de habitat por conversion a otros usos de suelo (plantaciones agricolas)
•Especies vegetales invasoras
•Fragmentacion severa del territorio por el reducido tamaño del pais

Conservation

The country passed very severe wildlife protection legislation in the 1990s after a wave of rhinoceros poaching, and since then its losses have been minimal compared with those of its neighbours.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Hlane and Mkhaya in the dry season for rhinoceroses and elephants. Malolotja between September and March for high-altitude flora and birds. Vulture roosts at dusk.

Sources: animalia.bio - Animals of Eswatini | BioDB.com - Eswatini | Frontiers - Limpopo-Mpumalanga-Eswatini Escarpment

Savanna Mountain Grassland