Terrain and vegetation
Gilé National Park is mainly covered by wet miombo woodland, riverine forests and patches of wooded savannah.
According to the classification of vegetation types of Mozambique, the miombo woodland of the GNAP corresponds to “Deciduous miombo woodland-lowland type.
The vegetation includes mainly: Brachystegia spiciformis, Brachystegia Boehmii, Julbernardia globiflora and Acacia-Combretum.
Some trees, such as Libidibia ferrea (commonly known as Pau Ferro), Afzelia quanzensis (pod mahogany) andPterocarpus angolensis (known as Umbila or wild teak) have precious wood and must be protected from illegal logging.
Gilé NP has a complex drainage system consisting of three large streams and numerous small streams, some permanent, others seasonal. The three main rivers are the Mulela, Molocué and Malema rivers. There are six other permanent streams that intersect the park, the flow of which varies greatly during the dry season.
The topography of the Gilé NP is characterized by a vast plain slightly inclined towards the south with an altitude between 100 and 200 m a. S. l., and numerous granite outcrops (inselberg) emerging from the woods.
The highest inselbergs within Gilé National Park are Mount Namirrue (434 m) and Mount Nachipe (340 m), followed by Mount Mucocha (332 m), Mussirima (332 m) and the scenic Mount Pope (265 m).
Gile’ National Park soil color varies from shades of brown in the topsoil to reddish and orange in the bottom soil on well and poor sites, respectively. The soil texture is sandy loam, sand clay loam and sand clay.
Generally, miombo soils are of eluvial origin on a substrate of quartzite, schist and granite rocks. These soils have low concentrations of organic matter, macronutrients and exchangeable bases, which decreases with depth.
Small scale mining mainly for gold has been a threat in the past.
This is largely under control nowadays but still requires attention and presence in the ground to avoid a worsening of the situation.