The naturalist Charles Swynnerton was appointed manager of the nearby Gungunyana farm in 1900, and a number of plant, bird and insect names commemorate his collecting activities of the next two decades.

Year-round moisture, in the form of rain, mist or dew, provides for a substantial and intact moist leaf litter layer, on which its ecological processes depend.

[7] Several tree species bear fleshy fruit, resulting in a good representation of mammal and bird frugivores,[7] which impact both negatively and positively on seed dispersal.

[11] It may have been aided by elephants which opened up forest, but more likely resulted from indigenous people who regularly cleared land by fire in spring time.

[11] Maupare (1993) however noted that the forest boundary was stable and that former logging operations in the northern section had no lasting effect on the plant diversity.

Thousands of specimens of the yucca-like Dracaena fragrans populate the forest floor, and numerous ferns, creepers, vines, epiphytes and orchids (including Calanthe sylvatica) are to be found.

[16] A few highland bird species reach their southernmost occurrence here, namely the Chirinda apalis (type locality), Swynnerton's robin, a globally threatened monotypic genus, stripe-cheeked greenbul (A. m. disjunctus), moustached warbler (M. m. orientalis), white-tailed flycatcher and yellow-bellied waxbill.

[17] Wide-ranging African species include crowned eagle, trumpeter and silvery-cheeked hornbills, both breeders,[17] Livingstone's turaco, lemon dove, green pigeon, owls, nightjars, bee-eaters, pygmy kingfisher, yellow-streaked (P. f. dendrophilus) and sombre greenbuls, yellow-throated (S. r. alacris), Barratt's (B. b. priesti) and broad-tailed warblers, olive and black-fronted bushshrikes, Cape batis, sunbirds and firefinches.

The forest is situated too low for orange thrush, Roberts's warbler, malachite or bronze sunbirds, and too high for yellow-spotted nicator, white-eared barbet or grey waxbill.

[17] The reptile fauna includes pythons, cobras, vipers, mambas, adders, chameleons, geckos, skinks and lizards.

Its type was obtained at an unknown location in the Eastern Highlands, and it is distinguished from the previous species by its lighter upperside ground colour, and the contrasting hair-pencils of the male.