Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Hillwood is one of the few large-scale farms in northern Mwinilunga District and around it has grown a thriving community. As well as cattle and maize, a private game reserve has been established (2,000 ha) with camping facilities and the farm sees a steady trickle of the more adventurous tourists. The farm is bisected by the Sakeji river. Over much of the area, the vegetation remains largely undisturbed. The three dominant habitats are grassy plains (wet and dry), miombo and mushitu (the local name for the last is ‘lito’).
See Box and Table 3 for key species. Although Hillwood is home to a wide variety of miombo and dambo birds, it is the forest species that comprise the most important element. Most belong to the Guinea–Congo Forests biome and, within Zambia, many are restricted to this small area, including
Baeopogon indicator,
Neocossyphus fraseri,
Apalis rufogularis and
Nectarinia batesi. Other notable forest species include
Halcyon malimbica,
Indicator exilis,
I. meliphilus,
Cossypha polioptera and
Nectarinia bannermani. In the grassland
Mirafra angolensis,
Hirundo nigrorufa and
Cisticola dambo are common,
Neotis denhami and
Turnix hottentotta are regular and
Anthus brachyurus scarce.
Neolestes torquatus and
Cisticola lateralis are both common in scrub. Among species of global conservation concern,
Crex crex is a (probably regular) wintering visitor and passage migrant,
Gallinago media a regular wintering visitor,
Falco naumanni an irregular passage migrant, and
Grus carunculatus a vagrant. There are recent records of
Sarothrura pulchra and
Campethera caroli. One species of the Afrotropical Highlands biome also occurs:
Bradypterus alfredi.
Non-bird biodiversity: The butterfly Eicochrysops pinheyi, a Zambian endemic, is quite common. Several amphibians, reptiles and dragonflies with limited distributions in Zambia are known to occur and it is likely that the area holds much flora and fauna that is similarly restricted.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Hillwood itself is well protected, but much forest in the surrounding areas is being cleared—see ‘Overview of the inventory’ for details.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Hillwood (Zambia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/hillwood-iba-zambia on 22/11/2024.
