Flora
The flora of Mlawula is notable for its great richness and diversity, more especially in the deep rocky ravines of the Lubombo mountains; here, almost pure stands of the unique Lubombo Ironwood may be found, and in their shade grows a cycad found nowhere else in the world, as well as many uncommon succulents and climbers.
The Mbuluzi river valley provides a floral link with the Mozambican coastal flats, and several species of plant more typical of that area grow here. The higher ravines and south-facing valleys tend to support a wetter type of forest or thicket, and are well worth a visit. The dryer Siphiso valley is characterised by knobthorn savanna, with bushwillow species on the rocky ridges.
The flora of the reserve comprises about 1035 plant species including 55 alien species.
Fauna
The variety of topography and ecotypes enables a large variety of vertebrates to exist in the reserve. The reserve is noteworthy for its high diversity of birdlife, with about 350 species having been recorded in the area, compared with the total of about 500 species recorded in the whole of Swaziland. Over sixty species of small and large mammals have been recorded in the reserve, which includes those species which have been re-introduced.
In general, very little is known about the invertebrates of the reserve, although there may be as many as 20,000 species of insects and 10,000 species of spiders.
History
The Mlawula area was considered as worthy of protection for many years, and was in fact proclaimed as a protected area as far back as 1914; it was subsequently deproclaimed and subdivided into cattle ranches.
The first part of Mlawula to be reproclaimed as a conservation area was the then Blue Jay Ranch, which was donated to the Swaziland National Trust Commission by the Niven family and gazetted in 1978 as Ndzindza Nature Reserve. This move was shortly followed by the purchase of Mlawula Estates, which development was in part funded by Havelock Mines Pty Ltd., and the donation of Nyala Ranch by Tibiyo.