Niassa Reserve is one of the largest protected miombo forest ecosystems in the world, with a surface of 42,000 km², the Niassa Reserve is the largest conservation area of Mozambique and it contains by far the greatest concentration of wildlife in the country.
Niassa Reserve – One of the largest protected Miombo Woodland Ecosystems. The Niassa Reserve is in the core of the vast Miombo Ecoregion covering approximately 3.6 million square Km and extending from the Angolan escarpment in the west up to (but not including) the coastal woodlands and forests of Mozambique and Tanzania in the East (WWF. (2001).Conserving the Miombo Ecoregion, Reconnaissance Summary). Protected areas occupy about 12% of its land area and the Niassa Reserve is one of the largest.
Biophysical Features and Woodland Type
Six key biophysical determinants are the “driving forces” that pattern the Miombo Ecoregion and, as so, they pattern the Niassa Reserve.
- Geological stability over a long time period
- Long dry season climate – lasting over five months
- Flat topography that is, in the case of Niassa Reserve, and then and uniquely interrupted by the abruption of the large monolithic and granite inselbergs,
- Sluggish drainage on plateaux
- Old nutrient-poor soils
- Low levels of large mammal herbivore with episodic high level of insect and small mammal herbivory
- Frequent fires