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.

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.

Forest plants include Parinari excelsa, Teclea nobilis, Polyscias fulva, Ficus storthophylla and Turrea holstii in ravines, and Syzygium cordatum, Ficalhoa laurifolia and Ilex mitis by the water.

[7] The Marungu Highlands riparian forest patches are in great danger of destruction from logging and from stream bank erosion by cattle.

[1] Prehistoric stone tools, facies with rare bifaces, have been found in the region dating from the Early Pleistocene (over 780,000 years ago) to the present Holocene epoch.

[11] Burton reported that, The people of Marungu are called Wámbozwá by the Arabs; they are subject to no king, but live under local rulers, and are ever at war with their neighbours.

They pierce the upper lip and gradually enlarge the aperture till the end projects in a kind of bill beyond the nose and chin, giving to the countenance a peculiar duck-like appearance.

The Arabs, who abhor this hideous vagary of fashion, scarify the sides of the hole and attempt to make the flesh grow by the application of rock-salt.

Fowls also are abundant; and as the soil along the river side is usually good, and the rain falls almost incessantly, vegetable food is raised to a large extent.

The soil is cold and clayey; and as the mountains, except when facing the lake, are entirely devoid of trees, fuel can hardly be got, so that they are compelled to eat their food generally uncooked, and they have to warm themselves as best they can.

In spite of these disadvantages the high mountains of Marungu are the most populous parts I have seen in Africa, probably owing to the fact that they can raise food throughout the entire year.

"[16] 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.

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.