The Poroto Mountains are a mountain range in the
Mbeya Region
Mbeya Region (''Mkoa wa Mbeya'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Guinea Bissau. Mbeya Region is bordere ...
of
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. They are located east of the city of
Mbeya
Mbeya is a city located in south west Tanzania, Africa. Mbeya's urban population is 620,000 according to the 2022 census. Mbeya is the capital of the surrounding rural Mbeya region (population, with Mbeya, totals approx. 2 million).
Mbeya is sit ...
. The Poroto Mountains are a northwestward extension of the
Kipengere Range
The Kipengere Range, also known as the Livingstone Mountains, lies entirely in Njombe Region in southwest Tanzania at the northern end of Lake Nyasa. Near Lake Nyasa they are known as the Kinga Mountains. It is a plateau-like ridge of mountains r ...
, and part of the
Southern Highlands. The Poroto mountains are volcanic in origin, part of the geological Rungwe Volcanic Province.
Ngozi or Ngosi (2621 m) is a volcanic caldera that contains
Lake Ngozi
Lake Ngozi (or Lake Ngosi) is the second largest crater lake in Africa. It can be found near Tukuyu, a small town in the highland Rungwe District, Mbeya Region, of southern Tanzania in East Africa. It is part of the Poroto Mountains and the nort ...
, a crater lake. The northern rim of the caldera is the highest point in the Porotos. Ngozi and the southern slopes of the Porotos are among the rainiest places in Tanzania.
The southern slopes are drained by the
Kiwira River
Kiwira River is a river located in Rungwe District and Kyela District of Mbeya Region, Tanzania.
Course
It rises in the Poroto Mountains southeast of Mbeya and receives several streams originating on the slopes of Mount Rungwe, including the Ma ...
, which flows southwards into
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is the fifth largest fre ...
.
Poroto Ridge Forest Reserve (240.34 km
2) was established in 1937, and includes Ngozi and a large tract of montane evergreen rainforest. Ngalijembe Forest Reserve (3.19 km
2) lies northeast of the Poroto Ridge reserve.
["Ngalijembe Forest Reserve". ''Protected Planet''. Accessed 5 September 2019]
/ref>
References
Mountains of Tanzania
Geography of Mbeya Region
Southern Highlands, Tanzania
Southern Rift montane forest–grassland mosaic
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