Mount Rungwe is a volcanic mountain in

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 borde ...

, in

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 ...

's Southern Highlands. At an altitude of , it is southern Tanzania's second-highest peak. Rungwe's volcano is currently inactive.

Geography

Rungwe stands at the junction of the eastern and western arms of the East African Rift. It dominates the mountainous country at the north-west end of the trough that contains

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 fr ...

. 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 ...

lies to the east, and the

Poroto Mountains The Poroto Mountains are a mountain range in the Mbeya Region of Tanzania. They are located east of the city of Mbeya. The Poroto Mountains are a northwestward extension of the Kipengere Range, and part of the Southern Highlands. The Poroto moun ...

lie to the north. Kyejo volcano (or Kiejo) (2176 m) lies to the southeast.Global Volcanism Program, 2013. Kyejo (222170) in Volcanoes of the World, v. 4.8.2. Venzke, E (ed.). Smithsonian Institution. Downloaded 06 Sep 2019 (https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=222170). https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW4-2013 The Kyela Plain, which occupies the valley of the East African Rift, lies to the south, extending to Lake Malawi. The western slopes of the mountain 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 empties into Lake Malawi.

Geology

Mount Rungwe is the center of the Rungwe Volcanic Province, a region of volcanic mountains that includes Mount Rungwe, Mount Ngozi in the Poroto Mountains and Kiejo. Rungwe Volcanic Province lies at a triple junction of rift valleys. The Lake Malawi Rift extends to the southeast, the

Lake Rukwa Lake Rukwa is an endorheic lake located the Rukwa Valley of Rukwa Region, Songwe Region and Katavi Region in southwestern Tanzania. The lake is the third largest inland body of water in the country. Geography The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies midw ...

rift to the northwest, and the Usungu Rift to the northeast. The region has been volcanically active from the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to historical times. Both Rungwe and Ngozi have had Plinian eruptions since the end of the Ice Age. The region has geothermal activity, including hot springs and warm springs. Rungwe is topped with a 4-km-wide

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

, breached to the WSW. Rungwe had a large explosive eruption about 4000 years ago, and the most recent eruption was about 1200 years ago. Kyejo last erupted around 1800.

Climate

Mount Rungwe has a tropical montane climate. Most rainfall is during the November to April wet season, although mists and light rain occur during the dry season. Nighttime frosts are common from June to August. The southeastern slopes of these mountains receive up to of rainfall a year, the highest rainfall in Tanzania.

Ecology

The plant communities on Mount Rungwe vary with elevation. The surrounding lowlands are mostly miombo woodlands. Evergreen lower montane forests are found on the lower slopes of the forest reserve, particularly in the southeast. Common trees include '' Aphloia theiformis, Ficalhoa laurifolia,

Maesa lanceolata ''Maesa lanceolata'', the false assegai, is a tree species that is widespread in the Afrotropics, including Madagascar. It occurs from the southern Arabian Peninsula, southwards to the Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of ...

, Trichocladus ellipticus,

Albizia gummifera ''Albizia gummifera'' is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae, native to sub-saharan Africa and Madagascar, and naturalized in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the large ...

,'' and ''

Bersama abyssinica ''Bersama abyssinica'' is a species of medium-sized evergreen tree in the Francoaceae family. The leaves are pinnately divided with a strongly winged rachis (hence the common name winged bersama). The inflorescence is a spike. This species is ...

''. Upper montane forests are found up to 2600 meters elevation, forming a broken canopy of about 10–25 meters. Common trees include ''Albizia gummifera, Aphloia theiformis, Bersama abyssinica,

Bridelia micrantha ''Bridelia micrantha'', the mitzeeri or the coastal golden-leaf, is a tree in the family Phyllanthaceae and is native to tropical and southern Africa as well as to the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Description A medium to tall tree ( ...

Diospyros whyteana ''Diospyros whyteana'' (also known as the bladdernut, swartbas, wild coffee or umTenatane) is a small African tree of the ebony family. Bearing dark green, strikingly glossy leaves and creamy fragrant flowers, it is increasingly cultivated in Sou ...

Hagenia abyssinica ''Hagenia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant with the sole species ''Hagenia abyssinica'', native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East ...

Macaranga kilimandscharica ''Macaranga'' is a large genus of Old World tropical trees of the family Euphorbiaceae and the only genus in the subtribe Macaranginae (tribe Acalypheae). Native to Africa, Australasia, Asia and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, t ...

Maytenus acuminata ''Maytenus acuminata'' (also called the silky bark, umNama or Sybas) is a variable, medium-sized, evergreen tree indigenous to Africa, including South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmos ...

, Myrianthus holstii'', and '' Neoboutonia macrocalyx''. '' Schefflera goetzenii'' is a common creeping vine. At 2600 meters elevation, the upper montane forests transition to a belt of bamboo covering about 866 hectares, and heathland between 2600 to 2800 meters elevation. The heathland includes species of ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus * E ...

'', ''

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

'', and '' Aloe'', with ''

, Agarista salicifolia, Catha edulis, Hypericum revolutum'', and ''

''. The mountaintop is bushed grassland, covering about 300 ha. High-elevation herbs include

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

, '' Buchnera rungwensis'', and '' Valeriana capensis''. Two amphibians ('' Phrynobatrachus rungwensis'' and ''

Probreviceps rungwensis ''Probreviceps rungwensis'' is a species of frog in the family Brevicipitidae. It is endemic to Tanzania and is known from the Mahenge and Udzungwa Mountains as well as the Southern Highlands, including the eponymic Mount Rungwe, its type loca ...

'') are named after Mount Rungwe where they were first collected. A genus of monkey, ''

Rungwecebus The kipunji (''Rungwecebus kipunji''), also known as the highland mangabey, is a species of Old World monkey that lives in the highland forests of Tanzania. The kipunji has a unique call, described as a 'honk-bark', which distinguishes it from i ...

'' was named for the mountain in 2005. It was initially thought to be a type of

mangabey Mangabeys are West-African Old World monkeys, with species in three of the six genera of tribe Papionini. The more typical representatives of ''Cercocebus'', also known as the white-eyelid mangabeys, are characterized by their bare, upper eye-l ...

from the genus ''

Lophocebus The crested mangabeys are West African Old World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Lophocebus''. They tend to have dark skin, eyelids that match their facial skin, and crests of hair on their heads. Another genus of mangabeys, ''Cercocebus'', was ...

'', until more detailed genetic analysis showed its closer connection to

baboon Baboons are primates comprising the genus ''Papio'', one of the 23 genera of Old World monkeys. There are six species of baboon: the hamadryas baboon, the Guinea baboon, the olive baboon, the yellow baboon, the Kinda baboon and the chacma ...

s. ''Rungwecebus'' lives on Mt. Rungwe, in the adjacent Livingstone Forest Reserve in the Kipengere Range, and with a disjunct population in the

Udzungwa Mountains The Udzungwa Mountains are a mountain range in south-central Tanzania. The mountains are mostly within Iringa Region, south of Tanzania's capital Dodoma. The Udzungwa Mountains are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains, and are home to a biodiverse ...

250 miles to the east. The Rungwe dwarf galago, a newly-identified

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

species in the genus ''

Galagoides The western dwarf galagos are a group of three species of strepsirrhine primates, native to western and central Africa. They are classified in the genus ''Galagoides'' of the family Galagidae. The eastern dwarf galagos (''P. cocos, P. granti, P. ...

'', is found on Mt. Rungwe and nearby portions of the Poroto and Kipengere mountains. It inhabits montane evergreen and bamboo forests.

Mount Rungwe Nature Forest Reserve

Much of the mountain (13,652.1 ha) was listed as a Catchment Forest in 1949. In 2009 the reserve was upgraded to a Nature Forest Reserve to improve its conservation."Mount Rungwe Nature Forest Reserve". Tanzania Forest Services Agency. Accessed 4 September 2019

/ref>

References

Tanzania National Website
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060813141237/http://www.southernhighlandstz.org/keysites.html Southern Highlands Conservation Programme {{DEFAULTSORT:Rungwe, Mount Geography of Mbeya Region Inactive volcanoes Southern Highlands, Tanzania Southern Rift montane forest–grassland mosaic Volcanoes of Tanzania Important Bird Areas of Tanzania