Gelai Volcano also known as Gelai (''Mlima Gelai'', in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

) stands at tall and is located in

Longido District Longido District (''Wilaya ya Longido'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of seven Districts of Tanzania, districts of the Arusha Region of Tanzania. The district is bordered to the east by the Ngorongoro District, to the south west by the Mo ...

Arusha Region Arusha Region () is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions and is located in the northeast of the country. The region's capital and largest city is the city of Arusha. The region is bordered by Kajiado County and Narok C ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. The volcano is located in the geographic area of the

Crater Highlands The Crater Highlands or Ngorongoro Volcanic Highlands (''Milima kasoko ya Ngorongoro '', in Swahili) are a geological region along the East African Rift in the Arusha Region and parts of northern Manyara Region in north Tanzania. The Crater H ...

and is a shield volcano that last erupted in the

pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

. It is at the southeastern edge of

Lake Natron Lake Natron is a salt lake, salt or soda lake, alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania with its far northern end crossing into Kenya. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East A ...

in 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. It was formerly considered to be part of a l ...

. Gelai is the third most prominent peak in

and is the 13th highest peak in Arusha region. Volcanic activity on Gelai dates to less than one million years ago. A number of earthquakes occurred in the area in the summer of 2007. Associated with the largest earthquake on 17 July, a NNE-oriented fracture or narrow

graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

formed on the southern flank of Gelai. The fracture may be associated with the intrusion of a narrow dike at a depth of around .

Forest Reserve

Gelai Forest is a Local Government Reserve that was formed in 1955 and comprises around 2,341 acres of the isolated top of Gelai Hill, which has an elevation of 2,942 m. Locals have encroached on and settled on around 452.7 acres of forest.Sitati, Noah, et al. "Tree species diversity and dominance in Gelai Forest Reserve, Tanzania." Journal of Energy and Natural Resources 3 (2014): 31-37. Gelai Forest Reserve (GFR) is one of the most important dry montane forests for water catchment in Tanzania's Longido District. The location, which is located at 2°40' S, 36° 5' E on volcanic soil, receives 500–750 mm of annual rainfall with daily minimum and maximum temperatures of roughly 17 °C and 22 °C, respectively. The primary section of the forest is dominated by shrubs, herbs, and grass, with dry montane forest at higher altitudes, although with a closed canopy only in riverine areas.Sitati, Noah, et al. "Tre e species diversity and dominance in Gelai Forest Reserve, Tanzania." Journal of Energy and Natural Resources 3 (2014): 31-37. Five settlements surround the forest: Alaililai, Lumbwa, Meirugoi, Magadini, and Loondolou Esirwa. The main socioeconomic activity in these

Maasai Maasai may refer to: *Maasai people *Maasai language *Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) Masai may refer to: *Masai, Johor, a town in Malaysia * Masai Plateau, a plateau in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India *Maasai peopl ...

settlements include livestock raising, agriculture, and tiny microbusinesses. However, human activities including as

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckscharcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

burning, cattle grassing, and farming endanger the forest controlled by the Longido District Council. The volcano falls within a game-controlled area that extends east to

, within Arusha Region, where strict regulated hunting is permitted. This has caused an increase in the numbers of animals in the area due to anti poaching efforts provided by revenue from licensed hunters.

References

* Volcanoes of Tanzania Geography of Arusha Region Pleistocene shield volcanoes Shield volcanoes of Africa {{Arusha-geo-stub