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

Site description (2001 baseline)
The site comprises three parallel, mountainous chains of very unequal size in the centre-east and south-east of Mauritius, separated by agricultural land (which is excluded from the site). All three chains are forested, and cliffs are rare. The Bambous (or Grand Port) Range is the highest and most extensive. It is dominated by a 12 km long ridge (east–west), with southward-pointing spurs, between Montagne Chat in the east and Montagne Table à Perrot in the west. Other important peaks are Montagne des Créoles (369 m), Montagne Lion (480 m), Pic Grand Fond (521 m) and Montagne Bambou (626 m, the highest). The Bambous Range contains around 2,600 ha of native vegetation, surrounded by a belt of exotic forest. Around 5 km to the north lies Montagne Blanche (7 km long, highest point 532 m, containing 200 ha of native forest), with Montagne Fayence 2.5 km beyond that (4 km long, highest point 433 m, containing 120 ha of native forest). The vegetation is varied, with some excellent stands of mixed montane forest in parts of the Bambous Range, but dominated by exotics in the more humid parts. Small areas of dry evergreen lowland forest exist in the far east. Deer-ranching and -hunting take place in much of the area, and nature-tourism enterprises operate locally. The upper parts of the mountains are little-disturbed.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Table 2 for key species. The Bambous Range contains a large (by Mauritian standards) area of habitat of great importance for Falco punctatus (successfully reintroduced in 1987; minimum 43 pairs, 1998) and Hypsipetes olivaceus (c.100 pairs, 35% of world population, 1993) and two more restricted-range species: Collocalia francica (probably an uncommon breeder) and Zosterops borbonicus (abundant). In 1997, Montagne Blanche and Montagne Fayence lacked the two threatened species, but F. punctatus is likely to colonize and H. olivaceus may wander there. Zosterops chloronothos is not resident, but occurs nearby on Montagne Lagrave (in the ‘Relict forests of the central plateau’ IBA, MU004) and so might wander to the western Bambous Range.

Non-bird biodiversity: Endemic plant communities, all rich in rare and endemic species: mixed montane forest (widespread; Bambous Range contains some of the least-invaded wet forest on Mauritius); dry evergreen lowland forest (localized in east). Mammals: Pteropus niger (VU). Reptiles: Phelsuma rosagularis, Phelsuma cepediana (endemic).

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: East coast mountains (Mauritius). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/east-coast-mountains-iba-mauritius on 23/11/2024.