Features
The name, Nyika, means "where the water comes from" as the plateau's elevation makes it wetter than surrounding areas. The top is frequently in cloud in the rainy season which brings over 200 types of orchid into flower. The grasslands of Nyika are rich in wildflowers in other seasons as well. Nyika is recommended for trekking, mountain biking and horse riding safaris, as well as more conventional 4x4 excursions. The montane vegetation attracts large numbers of antelope from the diminutive duiker to eland and roan. Zebra are common. The park has one of the highest densities of leopard in Central Africa and there are a number of species of smaller mammals such as warthog and bushpig. Elephants and buffalo usually keep to the lower ground on the northern edge of the park but lions and elephants have recently been seen on the high plateau.
Over 400 species of bird have been recorded in the park. The rare Denham’s bustard and the wattled crane are among those to be seen, as is the red-winged francolin - endemic to Nyika.
Other attractions include waterfalls, a neolithic rock shelter, trout pools and even a "magic lake". The recently refurbished Chelinda Camp and the brand new log cabin lodge provide excellent accommodation and facilities. There is an airstrip for fly-in safaris.
The lower-lying Vwaza Marsh Game Reserve is only 50 km south of Nyika National Park and some visitors take in both on one trip.
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A flower sitting among quartz stones in Nyika Nationa Park.
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Miombo forest inside the park]]
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Typical landscape on the plateau
Read more about this topic: Nyika National Park
Famous quotes containing the word features:
““It looks as if
Some pallid thing had squashed its features flat
And its eyes shut with overeagerness
To see what people found so interesting
In one another, and had gone to sleep
Of its own stupid lack of understanding,
Or broken its white neck of mushroom stuff
Short off, and died against the windowpane.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“These, then, will be some of the features of democracy ... it will be, in all likelihood, an agreeable, lawless, particolored commonwealth, dealing with all alike on a footing of equality, whether they be really equal or not.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)