NHACAINGA CONSERVANCY

LOCATION AND HABITAT

Nhacainga Conservancy is situated within Coutada 9 in the Macossa District of Manica Province in Mozambique.   It is 250km by road to the north of the Provincial capital, Chimoio.   In the South it has the road to Macossa from the main Tete road as its boundary, in the West the main road from Catandica via Guru to Tete is the boundary and in the North the road to Tambara via Mungari from the main Tete road is the boundary.   The Western boundary is demarcated by the Pompue river in the north and a rough line from Mount Nhampasse to the village of Pamusse on the Macossa road.

In a light aircraft Nhacainga Conservancy is about 40mins from Chimoio, 1hr20 from Beira and 1hr from Tete.

The Coutada slopes generally from over 700m above sea level in the south west to below 400m in the north east.  There are many granite outcrops and ridges with the highest point,, Zambelangombe, rising to 1205m.  The area is mostly fairly flat between the outcrops and ridges with some very broken country in the north west.

Zambelangombe mountain which rises over 500m from the surrounding flat lands

The geology of the area is granite/gneiss which gives rise to light, mostly sandy soils.  Annual rainfall is moderate as the area falls between the 600mm and 800mm rainfall isohyets. In broad terms the vegetation is classified as semi-deciduous to late deciduous miombo woodland. 

Drainage in the east of the Coutada is mostly towards the east into the Rio Pompue, in the north west into the Rio Muira which also flows north east while in the south west drainage is towards the south.  The rivers are seasonal but dry season water is available for wildlife in places, in surface pools, in the sand under the surface and in some springs.  Many of the sites of permanent water in the rivers are also sites of permanent settlements e.g. Caliza.

The area is of very little agricultural value as it is hot, dry and has poor soils.   There is malaria and the tsetse fly is abundant. 

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