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• Uluguru Walking
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• Southern Highlands Hiking and Biking

Usambara Mountains Hiking and Biking

Matamba

Matamba Village At an altitude of 1800m above sea level.With a one way dirt road buisness centre .Home to the Nyakusa Tribe,a village were everyone knows each other ,giving a sense and feeling of our cultural traditions which a slowly fading away.Walking into a bar you are met by smiles, everyone talks to and welcome visitors.This I would say is a good town for one to experience the jamii culture. The village is mainly a farming community,and supplies most of Mbeya's fresh agricultural produce as well as potatoes for the rest of Tanzania's southern region. Matamba is mainly a christian village with missonary activities of present and past still evident.

Geographical Features

The area is of clear cut valleys and mountains,meadow like grasslands.Lying at about 2780m above sea level. The Southern Highlands comprise mountain ranges and volcanoes capped by forest-grassland mosaic. They include the two highest peaks in southern Tanzania, Mtorwi at 2,961m (9,712ft) and Mt Rungwe, just one metre lower. However, unlike the Eastern Arcs and other centres of endemism, they have until now, received very little conservation attention. This despite initial surveys revealing significant biodiversity and a diverse suite of rare and restricted-range species. Over 120 animal and plant taxa are endemic to the area and some 2,000 species of vascular plants occur, approaching a quarter of the total flora of East Africa. Many of the region's unique plateaux and mountains were produced by Rift Valley faulting in the late Cretaceous. Subsequent volcanism also deposited lava and ash, especially at the northern end of the Lake Nyasa (Malawi) Trough. Whereas the Eastern Arcs derive moisture from the Indian Ocean, the Southern Highlands receive all its rainfall from November to April via convectional uplift from Lake Nyasa (Malawi). Consequently, whilst the region as a whole averages 1,500mm per annum, Kyela averages 2,900mm, the highest in Tanzania. Temperatures average 22 degrees C (max) and 10 degrees C (min), but from May to July frosts are common on higher ground with temperatures dropping to - 7 degrees C on Kitulo Plateau.

Vegetation

At an altitude of around 900m to 1200m above sea level. is mainly rocky and miombo woodland.At about 1200m to 1800m mainly farming land.and at an altitude 2780m above sea level is the Kitulo grasslands which contain a high amount of orchids and vascular plants which blossom around November to April(full blossom). Montane forests are scattered across the region, but are less extensive, and as yet less well known botanically. Structure varies with altitude, aspect, drainage and disturbance. At least 40 species of vascular plants are unique to the Southern Highlands and many more restricted to the Highlands and the nearby Nyika Plateau in Malawi. However, ranges are indistinct. The Kitulo Plateau has long been recognised as an area of immense botanical importance and has been the most studied, but other areas across the Southern Highlands harbour rich and highly localised plant communities.

Matamba People

The village is mainly a farming community,and supplies most of Mbeya's fresh agricultural produce as well as potatoes for the rest of Tanzania's southern region. Matamba is mainly a christian village with missonary activities of present and past still evident.

Route revealed option one

Route Revealed option one A (Mixture of Hiking and biking)

Route Revealed option two (intermidiate Mountain Biking)

Route Revealed option Three (eperienced and fit Hike)Kitulo to Matema beach Hike

Route Revealed option Four ( fit bikers)Kitulo to Matema beach Hike

Southern Highlands cross country Cycle

Ruaha biking safari

Expedition Essentials

Photos from this trip