|
Malindi District rises from the “coastal plains”
through a “foot plateau” to a low “coastal
range” up to the “Nyika plateau” to an elevation
of 300 m.a.s.i.
·
The ”coastal plains” comprise a coastal
coral limestone reef, inland of which is a sandy
back-reef facies (Margarini sands). It is a
narrow belt, varying in width between 3 km and
20 km. It lies below 30 m above sea level. A
creek in Mida breaks the belt and gives rise to
excellent marine and swamps with mangroves.
·
The “foot plateau” lies west of the
coastal plain with slightly undulating terrain
between 60 m and 135 m altitudes. The plateau
characterizes as seaward sloping peneplain whose
surface has been dissected by numerous dry water
courses, with underlying Jurassic sediments
consisting of shells, sandstones and impevious
clays. It supports grassland and stunted
vegetation.
·
The “coastal range” consists of low range
sandstone hills 150 m to 420 m high.
·
The rest of the hinterland forms the
“Nyika plateau”, which is 130 m to 300 m above
sea level.
The
highest point within the municipal boundary of
Malindi is a trig point in the Arabuko Sokoke
Forest rising to almost 120 m. Considering that
this is almost 10 km away from Malindi old town
the gradient is very low.
At
the northern border of Malindi Municipality
flows the Sabaki River, one of the biggest
rivers in Kenya. West of Watamu there is Mida
Creek, an extended mangrove area. Mida Creek
limits the development of Watamu in South and
South-West direction.
Malindi town could be divided in three broad
landscape units:
(I) the “beach”, (II) the “coral landscape” and
(III) the “plateau”.
·
The “beach” is characterized by coral
cliff, sandy soil and is an unstable new dune
formation.
·
The “coral landscape” consists of higher
situated old reefs and lagoons. It is
characterized by depressions with clayish soils
and areas susceptible to water logging.
·
The “plateau” is a prominent area of
shallow sandy clay soils underlain by coral
limestone rock. It is located above the 4.5 m
contour.
Through
the old town from the old market until the
Lawfords Hotel stretches a depression, which was
an old lagoon. It is a geological sea arm which
level is below sea level. Most of the surface
run off and storm water of Malindi West and
North catchments with an area of approximately
10.56 km2
drains towards this central lagoon.
Vegetation in Malindi area
The
area of the Municipal Council of Malindi can be
divided into three major vegetation zones:
·
Lowland dry forest on coral rag:
This vegetation zone covers the coastal strip
stretching some 1 to 1,5 km from the coastline
inward and from the Mida Creek in Watamu all the
way to Sabaki River Delta. The natural forest
remnant is found near Gede with indicator
species like Combretum Schumanii, Ficus Bussei
and Gyrocarpus Americanus. Most of this area is
covered with dense thicket with scattered
cultivated plots planted mainly with cassava,
maize and cowpeas.
·
Lowland dry forest (Arabuko-Sokoke
Forest):
This vegetation zone covers the most land of the
municipality and is mainly cultivated with
cashewnuts, mangoes, coconuts and food crops and
is mainly grassland. It is found in Ganda,
Kanuyuni, Mijamboni, Gede and Malindi Town. The
major remnant of this type of vegetation is the
protected Arabuko Sokoke Forest. The main
indigenous trees are e.g. Mtandarusi, Mrihi and
Mbambakofi.
·
Mangroves and swamps:
This vegetation zone covers only a small portion
of Malindi Municipal area mainly on the sides of
the Mida Creek in Watamu. There are only a few
species, which form dense forest.
Mainly three different vegetation zones cover
the Hinterland of Malindi:
·
Manilkara-Acacia Savannah
The area of Lowland Cultivated Savanna covers
both sides of the Sabaki River up to the town
Madu in the North. This type is found on the
clayey soils of the Jurassic shales and some of
the natural species found in the zone are Acacia
Zansibaric and Manilkara Zansiberensis.
·
Tropical monsoon forest
This vegetation zone can be find in the southern
part of the Arabuko Sokoke Forest and around
Marafa and near Hadu. Today only scattered
remnants of the forest remain.
·
Acacia Euphorbia bush land
The western part of Malindi District and half of
the area of the district is covered by bush
land. This vegetation zone is very dry getting
less than 600 mm rain a year. The most important
tree in the area is Dobera blabra. Other shrubs
and treelets include Acacia Zansibarica and
Euphorbia Tirucaelii. Cultivation for fieldcrops
is insignificant.
|
