In northern Malawi, near the Tanzanian border, lie the remote forests of Misuki Hills. At least 100 bird species are found here—the martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) and blue swallow (Hirundo atrocaerulea), both threatened, among them. 

More than 150 different tree species, live here, too, including strangler figs, whose intricately patterned roots begin in the tree canopy and descend toward the forest floor. A strangler fig wraps around another tree so completely that the host typically dies.