Location: Chimanimani Mountains National Park

Photo: Bart Wursten
Map showing location of Chimanimani Mts National Park.

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
Eastern scarp forests

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
View over the Bundi River plain

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
N end of airfield; grasslands on schists and quartzites

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
Quarzite pavement with Xyris

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
Ericaceous scrub with Aloes & Calomeria on Dombe

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
Summit vegetation on Dombe with Ericaceae & Helichrysum

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
The Corner from Martin's Falls path

Photo: Rawdon Goodier
View east from Melsetter (Chimanimani)

General Information

Quarter degree square: Mostly 1933C3

Country: Zimbabwe

Habitat: Afromontane forest, woodland, scrub and grassland habitats

Altitude range: 1100 - 2436 m

Annual rainfall: Probably over 1500 mm per year

Location (short): Forming the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique

Location (detailed): This rugged mountainous park lies in Chimanimani district, Manicaland, where it forms the eastern border with Mozambique. It is managed by the Zimbabwean Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management.

For more information on visiting the area we can recommend Frog & Fern's informative site or the page at ZimFieldGuide.com

We have taken the National Park to be the area marked as such on the 1:50,000 Chimanimani 1932D4, 1933C1,C3 maps, Edition 1, produced by the Zimbabwean Surveyor-General.

The area around the Outward Bound School and Tessa's Pool (for which we have created a separate location page) is shown as a separate area on the 1:50,000 map but we have included records from this area in the National Park.

Description

The Chimanimani Mountains are an important 'island' of the 'Afromontane archipelago', the chain of mountain groups stretching from the Cape to the high mountains of East Africa. Their peaks rise to about 2,440 m on the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The area, which in Zimbabwe includes the Chimanimani National Park, is of outstanding botanical and ecological interest. The mountains are formed by alternating strata of schists and quartzites. The schist soils bear a flora allied to that of the upland eastern districts generally but the quartzites, and the soils derived from quartzite, bear a very distinct flora including, at the latest estimate, over 80 species which are endemic to the Chimanimani Mountains. These include Protea enervis, Platycaulos quartziticola, Helichrysum africanum, Aeschynomene chimanimaniensis, Disa chimanimaniensis etc. So far it would appear that all the endemic species are restricted to the quartzite areas. These are the only Central African mountains that have a developed ericaceous scrub zone.
[Information and images on this location by Rawdon Goodier]

Useful links

View a list of records for Chimanimani Mountains National Park

View map showing records

View a list of recorders who have visited this location