13. LEBOMBO ARID MOUNTAIN BUSHVELD

Synonyms:

Mopaneveld (A15), Lowveld (A10), Arid Lowveld (A11); Arid Mountain Bushveld,

Lebombo North & Lebombo South, Lebombo-ysterhoutbosse.

Statistics:

4 41 0 km²; area transformed unknown; 37.96% conserved.

Locality & Physical Geography:

Undulating rocky terrain on the eastern border of the Kruger National Park, both in Northern Province and Mpumalanga, extending through Swaziland into the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal. Altitudes vary from 300 to 400 m.

Climate:

Annual rainfall ranges from 450 to 700 mm. Temperatures vary between -l°C and 46°C, with an average of 23°.

Geology & Soil:

The geology is rhyolite and granophyre. These give rise to shallow, acidic, sandy soils that can be classified as lithosols.

Vegetation:

The most common tree species are Lebombo lronwood Androstachys johnsonii, Red Bushwillow Combretum apiculatum, Shepherd's Tree Boscia albitrunca, Cassia abbreviate, Acacia nigrescens, Albizia harveyi, Kirkia acuminata, Croton gratissimus, Euphorbia confinalis, Terminalia phanerophlebia, Pterocarpus rotundifolia, Ozoroa engleri and Sterculia rogersii. The grass layer is moderately well developed, depending on the rockiness of the area, and includes such species as Annual Redtop Brachiaria xantholeuca, Common Nine-awn Grass Enneapogon cenchroides, Speargrass Heteropogon contortus, Pogonarthria squarrosa, Andropogon gayanus, Brachiaria nigropedata, Aristida congesta and Digitaria eriantha.

Key Environmental Parameters:

This bushveld is restricted to the Lebombo Mountain Range on the Mozambique border.

Economic Uses:

Ecotourism in Kruger National Park, and cattle and goat farming.

Conservation Status:

About one third of this type occurs in the Kruger National Park.

Key References:

Werger & Coetzee (1978), Coetzee (1983), Gertenbach (1983), Van Wyk (1984).

Authors:

Noel van Rooyen & George Bredenkamp.