Zimbabwe

África

189

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Zimbabwe sits on a central plateau of miombo woodland flanked by two great rivers: the Zambezi to the north, with the Victoria Falls and Lake Kariba, and the Limpopo to the south. In Hwange, the country's largest park, the absence of permanent surface water made it necessary to install artificial waterholes that now concentrate thousands of elephants in the dry season. Mana Pools, on the banks of the Zambezi, is a plain of apple-ring acacias and lagoons where walking among the wildlife without a vehicle is permitted, something rare in Africa. In the east, the Chimanimani and Nyanga mountains contribute cloud forest, heathland and waterfalls, and in the southwest the granite hills of Matobo form a landscape of stacked boulders with one of the highest densities of cliff-nesting raptors in the world.

The nature of Zimbabwe

National animal: The sable antelope, the country's national animal

Did you know?

At Mana Pools, some elephants have learned to rise onto their hind legs and stretch out the trunk to reach the highest pods of the apple-ring acacias, holding their balance for several seconds with their whole mass on two legs. It is not a behaviour found throughout the species: it is passed on within the local population and has been documented in a few bulls who became famous among the park's guides.

Biodiversity profile

Africa Austral (pais sin litoral)27,2% del territorio nacional (106.837 km2) bajo la red de areas protegidas del pais

Climate

•Tropical con estacion seca (Aw), moderado por la altitud de la meseta central
•Semiarido en el suroeste (extension del Kalahari)

Main biomes

•Bosque de miombo (savanna woodland, bioma dominante)
•Bosque siempreverde en las tierras altas orientales (unico bosque verdadero del pais)
•Humedales del rio Zambeze y el Lago Kariba
•Llanura aluvial del Zambeze
•Cerros de granito
•Bosque de niebla de montaña
•Sabana arbustiva
•Embalse continental
•Cataratas y garganta

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•No aplica (pais sin litoral); el rio Zambeze, con las Cataratas Victoria, es el eje ecologico principal del norte del pais

Flagship wildlife

•Elefante de sabana africano
•Bufalo del Cabo
•Hipopotamo (Lago Kariba, rio Zambeze)
•Leon y leopardo (Hwange, Gonarezhou)
•Elefante africano de sabana
•Antílope sable
•Águila cafre
•León africano
•Perro salvaje africano
•Rinoceronte negro
•Leopardo
•Búfalo cafre
•Cocodrilo del Nilo

Notable endemic species

•Diversidad floristica y faunistica concentrada en las tierras altas orientales, unica zona de bosque verdadero del pais, con especies de aves y plantas de afinidad con las montañas Chimanimani-Nyanga compartidas con Mozambique

Notable threatened species

•Elefante de sabana (poblacion importante en Hwange, con desafios de sobrepoblacion local en algunas zonas)
•Rinoceronte negro (En Peligro Critico, poblaciones bajo vigilancia intensiva antifurtiva)

Notable protected areas

•Parque Nacional Hwange (mayor parque del pais, gran poblacion de elefantes)
•Parque Nacional Gonarezhou
•Cataratas Victoria (Patrimonio Mundial, compartido con Zambia)
•Parque Nacional de Hwange
•Parque Nacional de Mana Pools
•Parque Nacional de Gonarezhou
•Colinas de Matobo
•Parque Nacional de Nyanga

Main conservation threats

•Caza furtiva de elefantes y rinocerontes
•Sequias recurrentes que afectan al Zambeze y sus humedales asociados
•Presion de conflicto humano-fauna en zonas colindantes a parques

Notable natural phenomena

•Las Cataratas Victoria, en el rio Zambeze, son una de las mayores cortinas de agua en caida libre del mundo y un ecosistema de gran relevancia para aves y vida acuatica

Conservation

Matobo holds one of the highest concentrations of Verreaux's eagle on the planet, and its population has been studied continuously since the 1960s, in one of the longest raptor monitoring programmes in the world. The economic crisis has weakened the funding of the parks.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Hwange between August and October for elephants at the waterholes. Mana Pools between June and October for walking safaris. Matobo year-round for Verreaux's eagles and rhinoceroses.

Sources: IFAW - Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe | BioDB.com - Zimbabwe

Freshwater