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Site Description - map # page #

Pangani District is centred on the Pangani River which enters the Indian Ocean at the town of the same name. It is a long thin district no more than 30km wide and is dominated by sisal estates in the north and Mkwaja cattle ranch in the south. The land slopes gently away from the coast to form gently rolling hills with numerous drainage lines along which are varying amounts of forest and thicket habitats. The district is sparsely populated away from the town and estates which suggests poor soils and minimal surface water.

Fottland (1996) lists only the following four forest reserves for Pangani District.
Garafuno 195ha shared with Handeni District (IBA 54), not yet investigated for birds.
Jasini 117ha productive, no suspected bird values.
Mangrove-Pangani 600ha mangrove along the Pangani River, no suspected bird values.
Msumbugwe 4,407ha the only forest in Pangani District surveyed for birds.

There are smaller patches of forest habitat along many of the streams in the vicinity of Msumbugwe FR (pers. obs.) and extensive patches within Mkwaja Ranch (Clarke and Stubblefield 1995). The total area of forest within Pangani District could therefore be closer to 10,000ha.

Birds

Although there are bird specimens from Msumbugwe in the British Museum and the National Museum of Kenya nothing seems to have been written about the birdlife of the area until a Danish team visited the forest for the WCST coastal forest programme. Falborg et al. 1(990) list 56 forest dwelling birds from Msumbugwe FR including such classic coastal forest species as Green Tinkerbird, Square-tailed Drongo, Fischer’s Greenbul, Red-tailed Ant Thrush, Kretschmer’s Longbill and Little Yellow Flycatcher. Local rarities included both Ashy and Vanga Flycatchers and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird. Records of Starred Robin during August suggest an over wintering population of this altitudinal migrant. More intensive fieldwork may locate the enigmatic Sokoke Pipit and the migrant African Pitta.

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Spotted Ground Thrush Fieldwork during May and November would probably locate this coastal migrant.

Near-threatened

Southern-banded Snake Eagle Regular and probably resident in and around Msumbugwe.
Fischer’s Turaco Resident in Msumbugwe but no information on status.
Plain-backed Sunbird Quite common in Msumbugwe.

Endemic Bird Area 111 - East African coastal forests

Fischer’s Turaco see above under near-threatened.

East African Coast 14 species (52%) out of a country total of 27 with a further 4 possibles.

Other threatened / endemic wildlife

Clarke and Stubblefield (1995) list many species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plants from Msumbugwe FR and what they term the Mkwaja coastal mosaic forests. Hawthorne (1984) considered the tree Stuhlmannia moavi as endemic to the area.

Conservation issues

Msumbugwe is much degraded due to easy access. During several visits in recent years no forest guard or any other Government official has been seen. The edges of the reserve are often, probably far too often, damaged by fires of considerable intensity. From scattered remnant trees in the surrounding area it can be deduced that forest cover was far more extensive in the recent past.

Recommendations

There should be a forest guard and barrier along the main road between Msumbugwe and Mwera on the main road. This should drastically reduce the large shipments of illegal wood removal. The road through the forest can easily be patrolled on foot from a nearby locality.

There are extensive patches of forest that could be gazzeted as forest reserve without disturbing any local farmers. Clarke and Stubblefield (1995) mention the creation of a new reserve to be named Misakazi but the progress of this is not known.

There are large areas of land to the east and south of Msumbugwe that could be incorporated into an enlarged forest reserve and these could be planted with Mvule on a scale suggested for other sites. With enrichment planting and careful planning a much larger forest would be created that would serve both the needs of local communities in terms of resources and employment and the concerns of environmentalists.

There is the possibility of Mkwaja Ranch being incorporated into an enlarged Sadani Game Reserve that would also include Zaraninge FR and the whole upgraded to National Park status. An enlargement southwards of Msumbugwe FR (including Garafuno FR) should continue to the border of this proposed park and extend northwards to the Pangani River and eastwards to the limits of present cultivation.

Clarke, G.P. and Stubblefield, L.K. 1995. Status Reports for 7 coastal forests in Tanga Region, Tanzania. Frontier-Tanzania Technical Report No. 16, The Society for Environmental Exploration, U.K. / The University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Faldborg, J., Halberg, K., Brammer, F. and Eriksen, T. 1991. Observations of Birds and Mammalas in six coastal forests of Tanzania. Preliminary Report of the Danish ICBP Expedition 1990. Zoologisk Institut, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen.

Fottland, H. 1996. Tanzania Forest Reserves, Status 1996. Catchment Forestry Report 96.8. Division of Forestry and Beekeeping. Dar es Salaam.

Burgess, N.D. and Clarke, G.P. (eds.) in press. The Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa. IUCN Forest Conservation Programme. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, England.