The habitat around Mihingo lodge is unique as it is surrounded by savannah bush land with open grass valleys, but owing to the extra water flowing off from the rock when it rains, the rocks are surrounded by a forest containing different species of animals.
For example we have savannah butterflies but also forest butterflies. The fig trees attract green doves and thick tailed galagos. The rocks are home to a very specialised antelope, the klipspringer which relies on its rubbery feet to run along the smallest of ledges to stay clear of leopards.
Mihingo is also home to bush hyrax that live on the rocks between Tree and Forest Rooms. They look adorable, rather like over-sized guinea pigs and, amazingly, are said to be the elephants’ closest living relation!
Although the Mihingo rocks are surrounded by dry savannah bush some of the trees around the rocks have orchids and Old Man’s Beard growing on them, which is a type of lichen or ‘Usnea’. The rocks are over 500 million years old and have many different types of lichen growing on them which indicates that the air at Mihingo is incredibly clean because these plants only grow in areas where there is no pollution whatsoever.