The Misuku Hills are a mountain range in

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

's Northern Region.

Geography

The Misuku Hills lie near Malawi's northern border. They are bounded on the north by the Songwe River, which forms Malawi's northern border with

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. Tanzania's Umalila Mountains lie north of the Songwe.Stewart, M. (1965). "On Top of Malawi—The Misuku. The Nyasaland Journal, 18(1), 7-13. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29545981BirdLife International (2019) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Misuku Hills Forest Reserves. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 02/09/2019. On the east and south, the Misuku hills transition to a hilly plateau that slopes towards

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

. The valley of the Kaseye River, a northward-flowing tributary of the Songwe, bounds the hills on the west. The Chitipa Plain lies to the southwest. The tallest peaks are Matipa (2124 m) and Mughese (1909 m).

Ecology

The natural vegetation in the hills is mostly

miombo woodland The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

. The hills are fertile and well-watered and support a rural population, and much of the woodland has been converted to farms and gardens. Two enclaves of montane evergreen forest live on the hills' highest ridges. They occupy two parallel ridges which run northwest-southeast, separated by several kilometers of cultivated land. The forests in the Matipa-Wilindi ridge occupy 2,400 ha, ranging from 1,700–2,050 meters elevation. The Mughese forests occupy about 720 ha, ranging from 1,600–1,880 meters elevation. The forests yield to pockets of montane grassland along the ridgeline. The

Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions ...

rainforests of the Misuku hills are some of the most diverse and species-rich in Malawi, with 150 species of trees recorded. Their closeness to southwestern Tanzania's concentration of montane forests and grasslands, and the hills' favorable climate soils, help account for the diversity. '' Pouteria adolfi-friedericii'' and ''

Entandrophragma excelsum ''Entandrophragma excelsum'', is Africa's tallest indigenous tree native to Tropics, tropical East Africa and occurs in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, D.R.of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. This speci ...

'' are predominant emergent trees.

Strangler fig Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species in the genus ''Ficus'', including those that are commonly known as banyans. Some of the more well-known species are: * ''Ficus altissima'' * ''Ficus aurea'', ...

s ''(Ficus spp.)'' are abundant. The montane forest trees ''

Cylicomorpha parviflora ''Cylicomorpha'' is a plant genus consisting of two species that are native to the African tropics. They are the only African representatives of the Caricaceae, and are consequently related to the papaya. Habit and appearance They have the hab ...

'' and '' Mitragyna rubrostipulata'' reach the southern range of their distribution in the Misuku Hills. The montane forests support populations of Moloney's White-collared Monkey ''(Cercopithecus mitis moloneyi)''. The only occurrence in Malawi of the Silvered bat ''(Glauconycteris argentata)'',

Lord Derby's scaly-tailed squirrel Lord Derby's scaly-tailed squirrel (''Anomalurus derbianus'') is an anomalurid rodent native to Africa. It was named after Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Range and habitat Lord Derby's scaly-tailed squirrel lives in tropical and sub ...

''(Anomalurus derbianus)'', and the

Tanzanian vlei rat The Tanzanian vlei rat (''Otomys lacustris'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland and swamps. It is threatened by habit ...

''(Otomys lacustris)'' is in the Misuku Hills. The

Black and red bush squirrel The black and red bush squirrel (''Paraxerus lucifer'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae occurring in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. In Malawi, it is found in Misuku Hills and Nyika Plateau and in Tanzania Poroto Mountains and Mount ...

''(Paraxerus lucifer)'' is found in the Misuku Hills, along with the

Nyika Plateau The Nyika Plateau lies in northern Malawi, with a small portion in north eastern Zambia. Most of it lies at elevations of between , the highest point being at Nganda Peak. It is roughly a diamond in shape, with a long north–south axis of about ...

to the south, and

Mount Rungwe Mount Rungwe is a volcanic mountain in Mbeya Region, in Tanzania's Southern Highlands. At an altitude of , it is southern Tanzania's second-highest peak. Rungwe's volcano is currently inactive. Geography Rungwe stands at the junction of the e ...

and

Poroto Mountains The Poroto Mountains are a mountain range in the Mbeya Region of Tanzania. They are located east of the city of Mbeya. The Poroto Mountains are a northwestward extension of the Kipengere Range, and part of the Southern Highlands. The Poroto mount ...

to the north in Tanzania.

Forest reserves

The Matipa (10.62 km²), Mughese (6.73 km²), and Wilindi (9.07 km²)"Wilindi Forest Reserve". ''Protected Planet'', Accessed 2 September 2019

/ref> forest reserves were established in 1948 to protect the hills' largest enclaves of montane rainforest, along with areas of montane grassland and miombo woodland.

References

{{coord, 9, 40, S, 33, 33, E, display=title, region:MW_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki Central Zambezian miombo woodlands Forest reserves of Malawi Forests of Malawi Geography of Northern Region, Malawi Mountain ranges of Malawi Southern Rift montane forest–grassland mosaic