Ntchisi Mountain is a mountain in
central Malawi. It is located in
Ntchisi District, east of the town of
Ntchisi.
Ntchisi Mountain's peak reaches 1702 meters elevation. A few neighboring peaks exceed 1600 meters.
[BirdLife International (2019) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Ntchisi Mountain Forest Reserve. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 02/09/2019.] Ntchisi lies on the western edge of the
East African Rift, and Ntchisi is part of a north-south belt of hills, mountains, and escarpments that form the western boundary of the rift. To the east is a plain that borders on
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 fr ...
. To the west is the Central Region Plateau, also known as the Lilongwe Plain.
Ntchisi Mountain Forest Reserve was established in 1924, and covers an area of 97.12 km².
["Ntchisi Forest Reserve. ''Protected Planet'', accessed 1 September 2019]
/ref> The mountain is home to an enclave of montane rain forest, the only montane rainforest between Chipata Mountain to the north and Dedza Mountain and the Kirk Range
The Kirk Range is a plateau in southwestern Malawi, extending in a north-south direction and skirting the southwestern shore of Lake Malawi and the western border of the Shire River valley. The range includes several peaks higher than 1800 meters i ...
further south. The rainforest covers about 220 hectares, between 1,450 and 1,640 meters elevation. The dominant canopy tree is '' Aningeria sp.'', with a smaller area (30ha) of tall ''Newtonia buchananii
''Newtonia buchananii'' is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae.
Description
''Newtonia buchananii'' is a tree from 10–40 meter high, forming a loose canopy with a flattish top. It has smooth bark, and the trunk has small buttresses at t ...
'' rainforest on the southeastern slope. Strangler figs ''(Ficus spp.)'' are abundant.[ Montane grasslands and shrublands are also found at higher elevations. ]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 ...
predominates on the lower slopes.
Ntchisi Mountain is the southern limit of the range for the songbird Sharpe's greenbul ''(Phyllastrephus alfredi)'', and two species of butterfly, '' Charaxes ameliae'' and '' Hypolycaena hatita''.[
Ntchisi Forest Lodge is a visitor-serving eco-lodge in the forest reserve, located on the south slope of the mountain.
]
References
Forest reserves of Malawi
Geography of Central Region, Malawi
Mountains of Malawi
Southern Rift montane forest–grassland mosaic
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