Eastern Highlands, also known as “East African Highlands” is located in the eastern part of Zimbabwe that also borders Mozambique. The East African Highlands are composed of highlands namely Inyanga Highlands which is located in the northern most part of Eastern Highlands, Vumba Highlands ( which is located near Mutare town) and lastly the Chipinge Highlands (which is located in the southern part of the highlands). Chipinge highlands also include Chirinda Forest (located in Mount Selinda.
The climate of Eastern Highlands is wet and cool with higher rainfalls compared to other places in Africa that ranges from 721 mm to 2,997 per year. Rainfall starts from August till November and also has winter that ranges 9 to 12 degrees Celsius. The highlands are composed of various stream rivers which form watersheds. Because of the Eastern Highlands’ climate features (which is low cloud, heavy mists and higher rainfalls), the land is always moist and said to be the perfect and ideal land to plant hardwoods, coffee and tea.
The East African Highland is divided into two according to its physio graphic properties that consists of Great Rift Valley (a trench that has 6,000 kilometers in length) and Abyssinian provinces that are said to share common animals and plant habitats.
Since the highland is rich in grasslands, the highlands are annually renewed after the fires that occur in the dry season. Some valleys have areas that contain tropical rainforest.
Eastern Highlands is abundant in animal life too. The animals that can be found in the highlands are East African Little Collared Fruit Bat, Marshall’s Pygmy Chameleon, Blue Monkey, Samango Syke’s Monkey and others. Many of these animals can be found the eastern part of Africa. The highlands also have reptile habitats with different species of snakes, toads, frogs, geckos and many more.