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

Site description (2001 baseline)
Newala District covers most of the Makonde plateau, a raised area inland of Mtwara District and south of the Rondo plateau. To the south, in Mozambique, is an even larger plateau. These blocks are separated only by the narrow valley of the Ruvuma river. The soils of the plateau are light sand, holding virtually no surface water. The plateau is well drained on all sides by numerous streams that cut deep into the sandstone bedrock. Much of the plateau is low-yielding agriculture typified by shifting cultivation with plantations of cashew-nut trees.The only remaining large blocks of (badly degraded) closed-canopy forest cover the northern and southern escarpments. Of the 10 Forest Reserves listed for Newala District, four are included in this IBA; Makonde Scarp I (1,748 ha), Makonde Scarp II (1,554 ha), Makonde Scarp III (1,434 ha) and Mkunya river (4,797 ha). Three others, Liteho (1,400 ha), Mtuli–Ninju (296 ha) and Mniwata (1,736 ha), may also contain areas of natural forest, but are currently excluded. The remainder are solely production forests, unlikely to have any importance for birds.

Key biodiversity
See Box for key species. There is virtually no information on the avifauna of the Makonde plateau. Circaetus fasciolatus is known from 1995 records from the escarpment. Only one species of the East African Coast biome is known to occur, but more may be expected to do so. If sufficient forest remains the avifauna is likely to be similar to that on the Rondo plateau (TZ051).

Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Newala District Coastal Forests (Tanzania). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/newala-district-coastal-forests-iba-tanzania on 23/11/2024.