The Usangu Plain is a lowland in south-central Tanzania. It is named for the

Sangu people The Sangu, at times called Rori (People of the Steppes), are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the Usangu Plain of Chunya District of Mbeya Region, Tanzania. By 1907 the Sangu numbers were thought to be about 30,000. In 1987 the Sangu po ...

Geography

The Usangu Plain covers an area of 15,500 km². It extends northeast-southwest, bounded on the south by 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 ...

, and 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 ...

on the southwest. Between the two ranges the Makambako Gap opens to the south. On the north, The Mbeya Mountains rise steeply to the northwest, and the lower Lupa upland further to the east. Further east the Usangu escarpment becomes less distinct, and the plain transitions into the plateau of central Tanzania.Mbede, E. I. (2002). "Interpretation of Reflection Seismic Data from the Usangu Basin, East African Rift System. ''Tanzanian Journal of Science'', Vol. 28(1) 2002. Accessed 8 September 2019

/ref> The plain is drained by the

Great Ruaha River The Great Ruaha River is a river in south-central Tanzania that flows through the Usangu wetlands and the Ruaha National Park east into the Rufiji River. It traverses and marks the borders between Iringa Region, Dodoma Region and Morogoro Region. ...

and its tributaries.

Geology

The Usangu Plain is the eastern branch of the

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of a ...

. The Usangu Fault scarp runs along the northern edge of the plain, where the Mbeya Mountains and Lupa upland meet the plain. The Chimala fault scarp marks the southern edge of the Usangu basin, defining the northern edge of the Kipengere and Udzungwa mountains.

Ecology

Most of the region is in the

Southern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

, with extensive grasslands punctuated by woodlands of ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'' and ''

Commiphora The genus of the myrrhs, ''Commiphora'', is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout th ...

'' trees. There are areas of

miombo woodland The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

along the southern end of the plain, on the lower slopes of the plateaus and the Makambako Gap. The Great Ruaha River forms extensive wetlands, some seasonal, in the middle of the plain.

Ruaha National Park Ruaha National Park is a national park in Tanzania. The addition of the Usangu Game Reserve and other important wetlands to the park in 2008 increased its size to about . The park is about west of Iringa. The park is a part of the Rungwa-Kizigo ...

occupies the eastern and central portion of the plain.

People

Until the 1960s, the

were mostly

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...

, grazing cattle on the plain with a communal form of land ownership. The Sangu were concentrated in the southern part of the plain, which was more amenable to cattle grazing. In the 1960s the Tanzanian government organized an irrigation project and developed three large rice farms on the plain, watered by streams originating in the western mountains. Some former communal grazing lands have been brought under state control. Now many Sangu make a living in agriculture. Many people from elsewhere in Tanzania have moved to the region to farm or graze livestock.Charnley, Susan (1996). Pastoralism and the Demise of Communal Property in Tanzania". ''Cultural Survival'', March 1996. Accessed 8 September 2019

/ref>

References

{{Authority control Landforms of Tanzania Southern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets Important Bird Areas of Tanzania Great Ruaha River