Location: Domboshawa

Photo: Bart Wursten
Domboshawa

Photo: Bart Wursten
Large boulders near summit

Photo: Bart Wursten
View from a distance towards Domboshawa Cave. A leafless specimen of Hymenodictyon floribundum is visible in the foreground.

Photo: Rob Burrett
View from the base of Domboshawa hill near the Interpretative Centre looking towards the summit. The "whale rock" is on the right. There is a patch of trees and other woody vegetation near the top just to the left of centre.

Photo: Rob Burrett
View of Sacred Forest (mostly Uapaca kirkiana)

Photo: Rob Burrett
View from within the Sacred Forest in the dry season

Photo: Bart Wursten
Gomphocarpus tenuifolius, a granite rock endemic

General Information

Description

Domboshawa is a large granite "kopje" or "whaleback", rising out of the central plateau highveld. Most of the surrounding areas are densely populated and cultivated but Domboshawa is relatively well protected by National Monuments of Zimbabwe and is of great botanical interest.

Vegetation is concentrated in the shallow soils of vegetation islands in depressions, cracks and crevices in the granite sheet rock, and in the shelter of large boulders.

Many ferns and flowering plants are unique to this type of habitat, including endemics such as Portulaca rhodesiana (Portulacaceae), Cyphostemma graniticum (Vitaceae) and Gomphocarpus tenuifolius (Asclepiadaceae). Deeper depressions and areas near the base of the kopje profit from the copious run-off of rain water from the bare expanses of granite rock, and are rich in vegetation including areas of mixed deciduous woodland trees. Hymenodictyon floribundum (Rubiaceae), Ochna puberula (Ochnaceae) and Garcinia buchananii (Clusiaceae) are typical representatives of this habitat.

Useful links

View a list of records for Domboshawa

View map showing records

View a list of recorders who have visited this location