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Proposed Kitulo National Park
Locals refer to the Kitulo Plateau as Bustani ya
Mungu - The Garden of God – while botanists have dubbed it the
Serengeti of Flowers, host to ‘one of the great floral spectacles of
the world’. And Kitulo is indeed a rare botanical marvel, home to a
full 350 species of vascular plants, including 45 varieties of
terrestrial orchid, which erupt into a riotous wildflower display of
breathtaking scale and diversity during the main rainy season of
late November to April.
Perched at around 2,600 metres (8,500 ft)
between the rugged peaks of the Kipengere, Poroto and Livingstone
Mountains, the well-watered volcanic soils of Kitulo support the
largest and most important montane grassland community in Tanzania.
One of the most important watersheds for the
Great Ruaha River, Kitulo is well known for its floral significance
– not only a multitude of orchids, but also the stunning
yellow-orange red-hot poker and a variety of aloes, proteas,
geraniums, giant lobelias, lilies and aster daisies, of which more
than 30 species are endemic to southern Tanzania.
Big game is sparsely represented, though a few hardy mountain
reedbuck and eland still roam the open grassland.
But Kitulo – a botanist and hiker’s paradise -
is also highly alluring to birdwatchers. Tanzania’s only population
of the rare Denham’s bustard is resident, alongside a breeding
colony of the endangered blue swallow and such range-restricted
species as mountain marsh widow, Njombe cisticola and Kipengere
seedeater. Endemic species of butterfly, chameleon, lizard and frog
further enhance the biological wealth of God’s Garden.
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