Marungu Massif
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The Marungu highlands are in the
Tanganyika Province Tanganyika () is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Tanganyika, Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami and Lualaba provinces are the result of the splitting up of the former Katanga province ...
of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
, to the west of the southern half of
Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...
.


Location

The highlands are divided by the Mulobozi River, which flow into the lake just north of
Moba port Moba is a town located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Tanganyika Province. It is the administrative center of Moba Territory. Location Moba is situated on the western shore of the southern part of Lake Tanganyika, south-east of Kalem ...
. The northern section reaches an altitude of while the larger southern part reaches . Mean annual rainfall is around , mostly falling between October and April. The soil is relatively low in nutrients. A sublacustrine swell extends from the Marungu plateau under the southern basin of Lake Tanganyika, subdividing it into the Albertville and Zongwe basins. The Zongwe trough holds the deepest part of the lake, at below the present lake level. Alluvial cones from the rivers that drain the Marungu Plateau are present at the foot of the Zongwe trough, and there are many V-shaped valleys below the lake level. These features indicate that during the
Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...
(2.588 million years ago to the present) the lake level varied greatly, at times being much lower than now. The explorer
Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...
noted this feature when he visited the region in his journey of 1874–77. He wrote, "Kirungwé Point appears to be a lofty swelling ridge, cut straight through to an unknown depth. There are grounds to believe that this ridge was once a prolongation of the plateau of Marungu, as the rocks are of the same type, and both sides of the lake show similar results of a sudden subsidence without disturbance of the strata."


Ecology

The higher parts of the highlands are
Miombo Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located in central and southern tropical Africa. It includes three woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) chara ...
woodland savannas, with scrub plants on the slopes and some dense forest in the ravines, and remains of riparian forest along the streams. Forest plants include ''
Parinari excelsa ''Parinari excelsa'', the Guinea plum, is a species of large, evergreen tree in the family Chrysobalanaceae. It has a very wide distribution in tropical Africa and the Americas. This species grows to tall while the trunk is up to in diameter. ...
'', '' Teclea nobilis'', ''
Polyscias fulva ''Polyscias fulva'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It fo ...
'', '' Ficus storthophylla'' and '' Turrea holstii'' in ravines, and '' Syzygium cordatum'', '' Ficalhoa laurifolia'' and ''
Ilex mitis ''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straig ...
'' by the water. '' Hyperolius nasicus'' is a small, slender tree frog with a markedly pointed snout, a very poorly known member of the controversial '' Hyperolius nasutus'' group. It is known only from its type locality in the Marungu highlands at Kasiki, at . Prigogine's sunbird (''Cinnyris prigoginei'') is found only in the riparian forest of this area. The sunbird is found in only a few areas of riparian forest. It has been recorded from Kasiki, the Lufoko River, Matafali, Pande and Sambwe. It is one of 25 bird species in Zaire (out of 1,086 in total) that were considered threatened in 1990. A 1990 book recommended conservation measures in the Highlands focusing on endemic plants. The Marungu Highlands riparian forest patches are in great danger of destruction from logging and from stream bank erosion by cattle. There have been proposals to conserve the forests that border the Mulobozi River and Lufuko River above within
nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...
s.


Early reports

Prehistoric stone tools, facies with rare bifaces, have been found in the region dating from the
Early Pleistocene The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial epoch (geology), sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, representing the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently esti ...
(over 780,000 years ago) to the present
Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
epoch. During that period the climate alternated several times between arid or semi-arid and pluvial. The English explorer
Richard Francis Burton Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...
visited the region in 1857–59. At that time Marungu was one of the sources of slaves collected by the Arabs and taken to the great slave market at
Ujiji Ujiji is the oldest town in western Tanzania and is located in Kigoma-Ujiji District of Kigoma Region. Originally a Swahili settlement and then an Arab slave trading post by the mid-nineteenth century nominally under the Sultanate of Zanziba ...
. The Watuta had earlier plundered the land and almost wiped out the cattle of the inhabitants. A merchant from Oman who had lived in the region for five months told Burton it was divided into three distinct provinces. There were Marungu to the north, Karungu in the center and Urungu in the south. Burton also heard of a Western Marungu, divided from the eastern by the Runangwa River. Burton was somewhat skeptical about the name, which he thought was more likely that of a race than a country. Burton reported that,
Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
visited Marungu in 1876. He wrote, "Though the mountains of Marungu are steep, rugged, and craggy, the district is surprisingly populous. Through the chasms and great cañons with which the mountains are sometimes cleft, we saw the summits of other high mountains, fully 2500 feet above the lake, occupied by villages, the inhabitants of which, from the inaccessibility of the position they had selected, were evidently harassed by some more powerful tribes to the westward." Joseph Thomson visited the region in 1878–80. He reported that there was no head-chief in Marunga, which was divided into three independent chieftainships that sometimes engaged in warfare. From north to south these were called Movu, Songwe and Masensa. The chiefs were Manda, Songwe and Kapampa. The people were "most excitable and suspicious", and Thomson had difficulty in obtaining permission to travel through the country. Thomson wrote: Thomson said of the terrain, "We had now no gentle undulations and rounded valleys, but savage peaks and precipices, alternating with deep gloomy ravines and glens. Ridge after ridge had to be crossed, rising with precipitous sides, and requiring hands and knees in the ascent. Now we would go up 3000 feet, to descend as far, repeating the process three times a day, and never getting half a mile of moderately good walking ground." He visited during the rainy season, which added to his discomfort. Thomson conceded, "... the savage and awe-inspiring grandeur of the mountain scenery we traversed in Marungu was not without its relief. Here the sun, darting his rays through a rift in the overhanging cloud-bank, would glorify as if with a golden crown some conspicuous peak, or smile upon some pleasant glade; and there glimpses of Tanganyika would be obtained, 2000 feet beneath us, its waters in the distance seeming as calm and undisturbed as the sleep of innocence."


Notes


Sources

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Further reading

* {{refend Highlands Landforms of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tanganyika Province Miombo Central Zambezian miombo woodlands Lake Tanganyika Great Rift Valley