Nyika National Park, Malawi |

Thazima gate, southern end of Nyika

The very name Nyika means ‘the place where the water comes from’. The national park almost covering the entire nyika plateau, stands flat and tall at its tallest at 2600m it is a place of serenity and wonder. The incredible amount of water up on the plateau draws the attention of over 200 different species of orchids and the rolling hills carpeted with ferns. Early morning bumbles overwhelms the presence leopards by their fresh spoor left on the roads, this really concretes the prediction of it once holding the highest density of leopards in africa. Among the cats the Serval ranks at quite common and although not seeing any , the habitat seems like heaven for them. Amazing in diversity, it holds one of its own specie of chameleon, toad and frog and also 3 endemic butterflies.

Crawshays zebra, read my article on them at http://inthestixx.com/2013/01/04/crawshays-zebra/

The open habitat for the most part makes the game viewing easy and creates interesting photo oppurtunities of some of the less common herbivores such as these crawshays zebra , roan antelope, common reedbuck and bushbuck.

Probably the most open habitat you can ever find bushbuck in

A young bull Roan antelope looks on in curiosity

Some of the most unexpected and most amazing animal behaviour I have seen of these aquatic Roan

An amazing oppurtunity in photographing a very relaxed Augar buzzard

With regards to birding on the plateau it offers some of the best in the country. The rolling grasslands interspesed with small pockets of woodland provide endless encounters with blue swallows, montane widowbirds, red winged francolin, beglefecht and bertrams weavers, scarlet chested sunbird, rwenzori nightjar, denhams bustard to name just a few. The magnificent pathces of forest include specials such as Bar tailed trogon, malwi batis, northern mountain greenbul, moustached tinkerbird rank among some of my personal highlights just not to mention plenty of others.