• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Choungui (594 m) is the peak that dominates the southern peninsula of Mayotte, and Sazilé is its south-easternmost headland, 4 km long with a sharp ridge up to 233 m high. This site contains the main forest block of the peninsula, which covers the conical peak of Mlima Choungui (down to around 400 m) and most of the catchment of the Mroni Bé river (east of Choungui, almost to sea-level), together with the unique, dry bushland and thicket on Sazilé. A road linking Moutsamoudou and Dapani villages separates these two areas. A few trails cross the area, but Sazilé is uninhabited and without roads.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. Most of the forest-living birds of Mayotte occur in the forest of Choungui, and the near-threatened Columba pollenii is fairly common (although Dicrurus waldenii is absent). Of special importance at this site is the important population on Sazilé (but not Choungui) of the restricted-range species Foudia eminentissima, which is otherwise poorly represented in the site inventory for Mayotte.

Non-bird biodiversity: Threatened ecosystem: dry bushland and thicket with baobabs Adansonia digitata, not found elsewhere on Mayotte. Reptiles: Phelsuma geckos P. robertmertensii, P. nigristriata and P. pasteuri. Sazilé is a nesting site for sea-turtles—Chelonia mydas (EN) definitely occurs, and probably also Eretmochelys imbricata (CR). No other data specific to this site.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Crêtes du Sud Forest Reserve (Mayotte (to France)). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/crêtes-du-sud forest-reserve-iba-mayotte-(to-france) on 27/12/2024.