Travel Guide Dzalanyama Forest Reserve

About 30 km southwest of Lilongwe, the 989 km² of the Dzalanyama Forest Reserve, established in 1922, covers the watershed of the Lilongwe River that waters and supplies the capital. Rising to an altitude of more than 1,700 metres, this protected area, whose western and southern fringes mark the border with Mozambique, is dominated by three species of brachystegia (or miombo in the local language), one of Malawi's most common botanical genera. In addition to these emblematic trees, we can also observe uapaca, eugenia cordata and exotic species, such as pine and eucalyptus introduced in the second half of the 1970s. The evergreen groves of essences and the wooded savannah of the reserve, decorated here and there with epiphytic orchids, make up a haven for birds and a small paradise for ornithologists who could well, during a walk of observation, come across rare species such as the olive-headed weaver, the miombo barbican, the rockfly rock, the white-tailed flycatcher, the pale beaked hornbill or the pillower. In the mammalian range, baboons, vervets and duikers are frequently observed, but the chances of observing a hyena, leopard or black hippotrague are lower. However, the Dzalanyama area, with its cascatelles and basins where it is good to take a swim, is undermined by the problem of illegal deforestation, which has very negative consequences for the local environment and the water supply in Lilongwe.