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Vegetation of Katavi National Park

The Park lies in the Savannah Biome of the biogeographical province of the Afro Tropical Realm.

We find two major landscape units:
1. The Rukwa Rift Valley floor
2. The Ilyamba ya Mfipa in the west and
Mlele escarpments in the east of the valley

The Rukwa Rift Valley floor includes the basins of Lake Katavi, Katisunga Mbuga, Lake Chada and Mpunga Mbuga, to name a few. These are seasonally inundated and are purely grass dominated. On the edges of the floodplains we find grass dominated vegetation with occasional shrubs and trees on termite hills.
But also undulated terrain occurs in the valley floor on the well-drained terrain which supports the growth of woody vegetation.
The elevated areas on the outlying foothills of the escarpment are occupied by mixed woodlands. Only from an altitude of approx. 1100m these woodlands consist of the typical Miombo species.
More than 400 trees, shrubs and grasses have been identified inside the Park (Nathan Mwangulango).
The whole ecosystem is subject to annual dry season fires.

Plants of special interest

RUBIACEAE-Spemacoce congensis (Bremak) Verdc.: Unusual variant close to Spemacoce sp. of FTEA
CRASSULACEAE-Kalanchoe crenata(Andrews) Haw.subsp. Nyassensis R.fern: Second locality in East Africa.
ACANTHACEAE- Isoglossa ufipensis (Brummitt). Endemic to Rukwa region.
RUBIACEAE-Sericanthe andongensis (Hieran) Van.Mollis Robbr.: Third locality in East Africa
FABACEAE-Brachystegia angustistipulata De wild.: Rare and local in western Tanzania and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Sterculia quinqueloba (Kis: Msawala): white bark, used for roofing
Pterocarpus angolensis (Kis: Mninga): hardwood, used for furniture