- Source: Mkhambathi Nature Reserve
Mkhambathi Nature Reserve (or Mkambati Nature Reserve) is a protected area at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is 7,720 hectares (19,100 acres), with the Pondoland Marine Protected Area off its coastal edge. The reserve is located in the Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism and the greater Maputaland–Pondoland–Albany Hotspot, and is covered in open grassland, dotted with patches of indigenous forest, swamp forests and flanked by the forested ravines of the Msikaba and Mtentu rivers.
Biodiversity
= Amphibians
=Amphibians occur in the coastal region of the reserve.
Bush squeaker
Forest tree frog
Knysna leaf-folding frog
Natal chirping frog
Plaintive rain frog
Yellow-striped reed frog
= Birds
=The reserve has a large colony (400–800 individuals) of Cape vulture (a threatened species).
= Mammals
=Chacma baboon
Black-backed jackal
Bushbuck
Eland
Southern reedbuck
Common duiker
Zulu golden mole
Forest shrew
Least dwarf shrew
= Reptiles
=Natal black snake
Southern brown egg eater
Variable legless skink
= Vegetation
=There is an abundance of endemic plants found in the Pondoland landscape of the reserve, including the endemic false water-berry, Rhynchocalyx lawsonioides. The Pondo palm is only found in this region, growing along the banks of the Msikaba and Mtentu rivers. Gurney's sugarbird can be found in protea bushes. Broad-tailed warblers can be found in marshland.
Threats
The endemic plants in the reserve face threats from fire as a consequence of poaching game, and of pervading invasive alien plants like:
Black wattle
Guava
Tickberry
Triffid weed
Gallery
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Mkhambathi Nature Reserve
- List of protected areas of South Africa
- Eastern Cape Parks
- KwaZulu–Cape coastal forest mosaic
- Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism
- Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot
- Pondoland Marine Protected Area
