Tanzania and the Eastern Arc Mountains

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Tanzania and the Eastern Arc Mountains

The Eastern Arc Mountain

The Eastern Arc is a chain of ancient mountains covered by rain forests and grasslands in Tanzania and Kenya. Scientists believe that the forest has survived on the Eastern Arc Mountains for over 30 million years, and were once connected to the forests of the Congo Basin and West Africa. Neighbouring mountains are much younger, for example Kilimanjaro is estimated to be about 1-2 million years old. Although the mountain range is discontinuous, the forests that blanket the slopes are very similar in nature and are rich in species found nowhere else on earth. The Eastern Arc Mountain Range has some of the oldest geological activity on the continent. Estimated to be at least 100 million years old � with some formations up to 600 million years old � the relative stability of their climate means that the area hosts a surprising array of biodiversity, from plant and insect life, to spectacular bird species.

Many thousands of species of plants and animals are found in these forests and nowhere else on earth. This includes at least 100 species of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles; at least 800 plants and huge numbers of smaller creatures like butterflies and millipedes. Many of these species are threatened with extinction. The Eastern Arc is recognized internationally as an area with an exceptional concentration of species that occur nowhere else on earth.
The Eastern Arc supplies many resources and environmental services for the people of Tanzania. The total economic value of these resources has been estimated as at least $620 million.
The Eastern Arc Mountains are the structure areas for many of the important rivers of eastern Tanzania. The Ruvu River that supplies water to Morogoro, Coast and Dar es Salaam flows from the Uluguru Mountains; the Sigi river that supplies water to Tanga flows from the East Usambara Mountains. The Wami, Kilombero, Little Ruaha and Pangani Rivers also flow from different ranges within the Eastern Arc Mountains and have large benefits for rural people and agricultural schemes in the lowlands. Many Tanzanian depend on the Eastern Arc Mountains for their water supply, and this thus encourage the many economic activities such as Agriculture sector in irrigation scheme, industries and other important. Also due to the presence of these important river the eastern arc tend to encourage more in Electricity production, which took about 50% of whole electricity produce in Tanzania, example Kidatu hydroelectric power.
The cool and suitable climate in the Eastern Arc encourage for the cultivation of many food and cash crops, which feed local populations and are exported to towns and cities. Fruits and vegetables exported to large cities include bananas, apples, pears, peaches, plums, cabbages, potatoes, peas, and other items such as leeks, celery, parsley and strawberries are majority cultivated in eastern arc, Food grown in the Eastern Arc and exported to towns makes a major contribution to feeding the people of Tanzania and reducing poverty. Due to fertile soils and sufficient rainfall, the Eastern Arc Mountains area is famous for large scale farming of Cash Crops, such as Coffee, Tea and Sugarcane estates (Kilombero and Mtibwa Sugar Estates).
The forests and mountains of the Eastern Arc provide an attraction to visiting tourists. Recent tourist locations include the South Pare Mountains, Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Amani Nature Reserve in the East Usambaras, Lushoto in the West Usambaras and the area above Morogoro in the Uluguru Mountains. The Eastern Arc is increasingly becoming popular with tourists particularly those with specialist interests in birds and wildlife species.

It has been estimated that there are over 2,000 plant species in 800 general in these montane and surrounding forests. At least 800 of these species are believed endemic to this ecoregion. On a broader scale, the montane forests of Tanzania contain 7% of the endemic plant species of Africa on only 0.05% of the total area. Bird endemism in the Eastern Arc forests is high, with both strict and near-endemic species. Some of the near-endemic species exhibit disjunct distribution patterns indicating formerly widespread populations in the mountains of eastern Africa .
Also Mammalian endemism is also high, considering the relatively small area of these montane forest patches. There are no endemic large mammals, however, presumably because the areas of forest are insufficient to permit the persistence of unique large forest-dwelling mammal species. Amphibians and reptiles also exhibit high levels of species endemism. Noted, among more than 20 species of strictly endemic amphibians are species within the reed frogs (Hyperolius � five endemic species), forest treefrogs (Leptopelis - two endemic species), tree toads (Nectophrynoides � five endemic species), species in the Microhylidae family , and the Caeciliaidae family (five endemic species). New species continue to be discovered in this ecoregion; for example, the newly described Kihansi spary toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis), which is extremely threatened with extinction due to the diversion of water to a hydroelectric plant.

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About the Author

Fred Mlaponi is a Tanznaian student researcher with Wild Things. For more information on visiting Tanzania Wild Things For more information on visiting Tanzania's mountains contact Climb Kilimanjaro with Mountain Kingdom safaris

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