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It is located
in the northwestern Tanzania, rich
in wildlife diversity, birds and insects, including bees. (See the Map).
Kigosi Reserve is
a protected area managed mainly
for conservation through management intervention
It is
within
the
Malagalasi-Moyowosi wetland, which is
large and excellent example of East African floodplain wetland
ecosystem in good condition. The wetland provides an important dry
season refuge and feeding area for migratory animals including many
water birds and large mammal species. It is also is an important
breeding area for rare water birds including the wattled crane and
shoebill stork
Vegetation
The area is dominated with grassy swamps to the south
and open Miombo woodland to the north, allowing the Moyowosi, Nikonga,
Kigosi and Gombe Rivers flow through the flood plain.
Wildlife Attraction
The
inaccessibility to this reserve contributed to the concentration of rare
water birds including the wattled crane and the shoebill stork. As it
is in Moyowosi, the reserve
provides perfect and excellent habitation for elusive sitatunga,
waterbuck, buffalo, it is also considered to harbor large number of
lions. There is considerable number of islands in the swamp where game
often concentrates.
The Miombo woodland, which is dissected by the rivers, create excellent
refuge for sable, hartebeest, buffalo, topi and other game seen in the
woodland. Crocodile and hippo are found in the Gombe River to the
south.
Facts
Moyowosi, Kigosi and
Ugalla Game Reserves
form a vast and complex reverine floodplain wetland in the basin of the
Malagalasi River. The basin has five main
rivers, the Malagalasi, Moyowosi, Kigosi, Gombe and Ugalla which drain
an area of 9.2 million hectares (about 30% of the
Lake Tanganyika
catchments system)
This
site is one of the few areas in Tanzania that Sitatunga (Tragelaphus
spekei), an antelope species, adapted for life in wetlands, occur
within a protected area and is possibly one of East Africa’s largest
protected populations
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