Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands extend for about 300 kilometres from north to south along the country’s eastern border with Mozambique. They form part of the East African Highlands, one of the continent’s four distinct physical geographic divisions. The mountain ranges that make up these highlands share many plant, animal and bird species that collectively make up Afromontane flora and fauna.
The Eastern Highlands comprise three ranges of hills and mountains:
Nyanga with its rolling countryside and tea plantations; Bvumba with its coffee plantations and green forests and meadows; and the Chimanimani Mountains with their magnificent granite peaks. Thanks to the cool, moist climate, the vegetation consists of montane and submontane grassland, evergreen forest, heath, miombo woodland (at lower elevations) and dry montane forest, all of which provide habitats for a diverse range of bird and animal life. This is why the region is a target for birders who want to add to their southern African bird list.
On a recent visit to the Eastern Highlands we visited Nyanga and Bvumba, but were prevented from getting into the Chimanimani Mountains as the roads and infrastructure had been badly damaged by Cyclone Freddy. We took some comfort, though, from knowing that the birds we would have seen there would have been little different from the ones already seen on the trip.
Nyanga Mountains and Honde Valley
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.
