Southern Highlands, Tanzania

The highlands include portions of Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe, Rukwa, Ruvuma, and Songwe regions, bordering Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia.

To the northeast, the Makambako Gap separates the Southern Highlands from the Eastern Arc Mountains.

The Songwe River drains the western and southern Umalila Mountains, and forms the boundary between Tanzania and Malawi.

The Lufilyo River drains the east slope of Mount Rungwe and the Livingstone Forest in Kitulo National Park.

The Ruhuhu River drains the southern portion of the Kipengere Range and northern Matengo Highlands.

At higher elevations the mountains are home to Afromontane evergreen forests, grasslands, and shrublands, part of the Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaic ecoregion, which extends into the nearby mountains of Malawi and Zambia.