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

Site description (2001 baseline)
Mount Rungwe and its associated belt of forest dominates the mountainous country north-west of Lake Nyasa. The impressive crater lake of Ngozi lies 10 km north-west of Mount Rungwe, encircled by the Mporoto Ridge Forest Reserve. To the east of Mount Rungwe is the Livingstone Forest Reserve which cloaks the steep escarpment of the Lake Nyasa Trough, overlooking Mwakalele town, and which is included within site TZ073. Common trees in these montane forests include Aphloia theiformis, Ficalhoa laurifolia, Maesa lanceolata, Trichocladus ellipticus, Albizia gummifera and Bersama abyssinica. There are extensive stands of bamboo in some forests and a belt of heathland on Mount Rungwe above 2,600 m. Grassland and forest-edge habitats within these Forest Reserves are becoming increasingly important for threatened birds as agriculture expands into marginal areas. Rungwe Catchment Forest Reserve (CFR) (13,652 ha), Livingstone CFR (26,366 ha) and Mporoto CFR (13,652 ha) are the three largest forest areas included in the IBA. Also included are eight smaller Forest Reserves: Ihoho CFR (380 ha), Sawago CFR (907 ha), Kitweli CFR (234 ha), Irenge CFR (635 ha), Chuvwi CFR (486 ha), Ngalijembe Local Authority Catchment Forest Reserve (LACFR) (260 ha, 50% plantation), Kyejo LACFR (693 ha) and Irungu LACFR (1,850). The south-eastern slopes of these mountains receive up to 3,000 mm of rainfall per annum, the highest in Tanzania.

Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Ploceus bertrandi occurs here, a largely sedentary and solitary species of forest-edge and riverine scrub habitat at higher elevations. The status of Hirundo atrocaerulea is unknown, but it is likely to occur rarely.

Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mount Rungwe (Tanzania). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mount-rungwe-iba-tanzania on 22/11/2024.