Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in South Africa, with its capital in Harare, formerly known as Salisbury. Almost all of Zimbabwe lies at an altitude of 300 meters above sea level. Its main feature is the broad mountain ridge that runs from southwest to northeast for 650 km across the country, from Plumtree close to the Botswana border, through Gweru and Marondera, to the Inyanga Mountains, which divide Zimbabwe from Mozambique. The ridge, some 80 kilometers wide, varies in elevation from 1000 meters to 1500 meters, rising to 2592 meters at the highest point in Zimbabwe, Mount Inyangani, in the eastern highlands. This ridge is called the Highveld and covers about 25 per cent of the total area of the country. On either side of this central ridge lies the broader plateau, the Middleveld, at an altitude of between about 900 and 1000 meters, which covers roughly 40 percent of Zimbabwe's land area. Beyond this lies the Lowveld, which covers about 23 percent of the country's land area. Most of the country is savannah, although tropical evergreen and hardwood forests can be found in the humid and mountainous Eastern Highlands. Zimbabwe's wildlife is found mainly in isolated or rough terrain, in national parks and private game farms, in miombo woodlands and in thorn acacia or kopje. Key wildlife species include the African Buffalo, African Bush Elephant, Black Rhino, Southern Giraffe, African Leopard, lion, Plains Zebra and numerous antelope species. Zimbabwe has 685 bird species, including 10 globally threatened species and two introduced species.