[1] The highlands have a cooler, moister climate than the surrounding lowlands, which support distinct communities of plants and animals.

A hilly upland extends south from the fault into Chipinge District, and the highest point is Mount Selinda at 1230 meters.

The Highlands have a more equable climate than Zimbabwe's central plateau, with higher rainfall, low cloud and heavy mists and dew as moisture moves inland from the Indian Ocean.

Much of the small area consists of rolling hills covered with grassland, which are renewed annually following the fires that occur at the end of the dry season.

At higher elevations are montane grasslands made up mostly of short, tufted grasses, including Loudetia simplex, Trachypogon spicatus, Exotheca abyssinica, and Monocymbium ceresiiforme.

[1] Some valleys and east-facing slopes contain areas of subtropical rainforest, with a high canopy, lianas, and a rich undergrowth.

There are larger areas of dry forest at higher altitudes in places where the ground is well watered and on drier slopes patches of miombo woodland (Brachystegia spiciformis, Brachystegia tamarindoides and Uapaca kirkiana) and areas of heathland at higher elevations.

There are patches of the tall, evergreen mobola plum Parinari curatellifolia near the town of Chipinge and on the western slopes of the Nyanga Highlands.

In the Chimanimani Mountains and Mount Gorongosa, heathlands are found on poor, acidic sandy soils derived from quartzite.

The ericaceous heathlands are dominated by Philippia pallidiflora, P. hexandra, Phylica ericoides, Passerina montana, Erica eylesii, E. pleiotricha, E. gazensis, and E. johnstoniana.

Four species of fish – Labeo baldasseronii, Amarginops hildae, Varicorhinus pungweensis, and Parakneria mossambica – are endemic to the highlands.

[11] The mountain forests are vulnerable to logging and the grasslands susceptible to fire and the rainforests, which by definition grow on well-watered fertile land, to clearance for agriculture.