Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The site lies within the Libombo mountain range, a rhyolite ridge running along the frontier between Mozambique and Swaziland. It includes steep hillsides, a gorge through which the Changelane river flows and a large cliff-face at the joint confluence of the streams Timbogoloene and Mizinandjovo with the Changelane river. The vegetation consists of coastal forest (on the steeper slopes), woodland and savanna. The area is inhabited by itinerant charcoal manufacturers in temporary dwellings, and by subsistence farmers in fewer than 10 more permanent homesteads.
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. A colony of 10–15 pairs of the globally threatened
Gyps coprotheres breeds on the one substantial cliff-face in the Changelane river gorge. Foraging opportunities for the species in this part of Mozambique are severely limited, due to the lack of game and livestock. The birds forage mostly in the nearby Mlawula/Hlane wildlife complex in Swaziland. The proposed reintroduction of game into the Maputo Special Reserve (IBA MZ001) would provide additional foraging opportunities for the species within Mozambique. The site holds three species of the Zambezian biome and two of the Afromontane Highlands biome (Table 3).
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International. Larger mammals which used to occur in the area have been exterminated by hunting.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The site is unprotected. Body parts of
Gyps vultures are widely used in traditional medicine. The breeding site of
Gyps coprotheres is potentially threatened by hunters seeking carcasses of the birds for this trade. The continued depletion of forests by charcoal manufacturers poses a threat to forest-dwelling birds. A proposal has been made by residents of the area to the Department of Wildlife for tourism development, based on birdwatching.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Changelane river gorge (Mozambique). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/changelane-river-gorge-iba-mozambique on 23/12/2024.
