Sites - Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs)
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Kruger National Park and adjacent areas
South Africa, Mpumalanga,Northern Province
31o 35.00' East 24o 10.00' South
A1, A3, A4i
300 - 450m
Year of IBA assessment
BirdLife South Africa
Summary The Kruger National Park is situated on the southern portion of the Mozambique coastal plain in the lowveld of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The IBA covers an area of over 2.1 million hectares. The Park is known to support more than 490 bird species, about 55% of the species found in the entire southern African Sub-region. This includes several important populations of widespread birds, which have suffered outside large protected areas.
Site description Kruger National Park (KNP) is situated on the southern portion of the Mozambique coastal plain in the lowveld of the Northern Province and Mpumalanga. The park is roughly rectangular in shape, stretching c.320 km from north to south and 65 km from east to west. The site includes the important Banyani flood-plain, just outside the park’s border, as well as several provincial and privately owned reserves that lie adjacent to the western border, and the large Onderberg area to the south of the park (managed by the Mpumalanga Parks Board). The area consists of flat, gently undulating plains that are occasionally broken by scattered inselbergs. The Lebombo mountains, a series of low hills, dominate the eastern border of the park. KNP is drained from west to east by two major river systems, the nKomati and the Limpopo, which form the southern and northern borders of the park respectively, and also by six other large rivers. Under natural conditions all of these rivers would be perennial, but owing to heavy water abstraction within their catchments (west of the IBA), all but one now dry out seasonally.The varied soils give rise to a plethora of different types of deciduous savanna and woodland, ranging from dense forest to open shrubby grassland. Savanna predominates overall, but there is dense broadleaved woodland in the south-west, dominated by Dichrostachys, Combretum and Terminalia, as well as mopane woodland in the central portion of the park, and more open woodland of Burkea, Pseudolachnostylis, Kirkia and baobab Adansonia in the drier, rugged northern region. Riverine forest and thicket occurs along all the major drainage lines.
Key Biodiversity See Box and Table 3 for key species. The park is known to support more than 490 bird species, about 55% of the species found in the southern African subregion. The diversity of birds can be attributed to the variety of habitats present and the ecotonal nature of the area. The park supports the healthiest populations of scavenging bird species in South Africa.The Luvuvhu, Olifants and Sabie rivers, with their associated riverine forest, support several nationally threatened bird species that are secretive and river-dependent, such as Scotopelia peli, Gorsachius leuconotus and Podica senegalensis. The rivers, flood-plains, pans, dams and vleis are important for many wetland-dependent and associated birds, such as Ciconia nigra, which breed in the gorges of the nearby Lebombo mountains, C. episcopus, Anastomus lamelligerus, Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis and Vanellus albiceps. The Banyini flood-plain, which falls just outside the park’s boundary near Pafuri, is of particular interest as in wet seasons it supports excellent pans and surrounding flooded grassy areas. The land is partially private and partially owned by the South African National Defence Force. The seasonally flooded grasslands lying to the north of Shingwedzi are also vital for wetland birds during years of heavy rain, particularly for Crex crex.Several wide-ranging species, which are now rare outside South Africa’s large national parks, are locally common in KNP, including the country’s largest populations of Leptoptilos crumeniferus, Necrosyrtes monachus, Gyps africanus, Torgos tracheliotus, Trigonoceps occipitalis, Polemaetus bellicosus, Terathopius ecaudatus, Aquila rapax, Ardeotis kori and Bucorvus cafer. Gyps coprotheres regularly forage within the park. Neotis denhami, Circus macrourus and Tyto capensis occur in small numbers. The thicket and forest areas support the following species restricted to the East African Coast biome: Poicephalus cryptoxanthus, Telophorus quadricolor, Lamprotornis corruscus, Hypargos margaritatus and Serinus citrinipectus (the latter two in the north-east only).
Non-bird biodiversity: KNP is one of the most important conservation areas in South Africa. Many threatened species occur throughout the park. Among mammals, there are important populations of Ceratotherium simum (LR/cd; more than 700 individuals), Diceros bicornis (CR), Lycaon pictus (EN), Loxodonta africana (EN; more than 7,000 individuals) and Acinonyx jubatus (VU). The highly localized Chrysospalax villosus and Amblysomus julianae (CR) have been recorded in the park. The park also holds populations of the more localized Chirindia langi, Zygaspis vandami and Afroedura langi; the latter is restricted to the Olifants river valley. Among the frogs, southern African endemics include Hemisus marmoratus, Hyperolius tuberilinguis, Afrixalus aureus, A. delicatus, Phrynobatrachus mababiensis, Hilderbrandtia ornata, Ptychadena mossambica, P. oxyrhynchus, Strongylopus grayii, Tomopterna krugerensis, T. marmorata and T. natalensis. Arthrolepis stenodactylus is a rare resident.