Mbeya Region

Mbeya Region (Mkoa wa Mbeya in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Guinea Bissau. Mbeya Region is bordered to the east by Singida Region, Iringa Region and Njombe Region. The region is bordered to the south by Malawi and Lake Nyasa. To the north the region borders southern Tabora Region. Lastly, Mbeya is bordered to the west by Songwe Region. The regional capital is the city of Mbeya. According to the 2012 national census, the region had a population of 2,707,410. Geography Mbeya Region is located between latitudes 7 degrees and 9 degrees 31' south of the equator and between longitudes 32 degrees and 35 degrees east of Greenwich in Tanzania's Southern Highlands Zone. The Republic of Malawi shares borders with the Mbeya Region to the south, Songwe Region to the west, Singida and Tabora Regions to the north, and Iringa and Njombe Regions to the east. Kasumulu in Kyela District serves as the primary entry and/or exit point into the Republic of Malawi, which is a neighboring country. The Great Rift Valley created the majority of the places in the area, with the lowland elevation occupying the Western Rift Zone, which includes the Lake Rukwa and Lake Nyasa regions, and the Eastern Rift Zone, which includes the Usangu Plains and other sections of the Ruaha Trough. The heights range from 475 meters above sea level at Lake Nyasa to more than 2,900 meters at Mount Rungwe's summit. Hydrology The Ruaha/Rufiji Basin, which stretches in the east, the inland Lake Rukwa Basin in the north-west, and the Lake Nyasa Basin in the south are the three river basins that make up the Mbeya Region. The surface runoff pattern and the unimodal rainfall distribution closely match. Tanzania's Southern Plateau's south highlands serve as a watershed for the area's primary drainage system. The Great Ruaha, Zira, Songwe, Kiwira, Lufilyo, and Mbaka are some of the major rivers in the area. One of the inlets to the Indian Ocean, the Great Ruaha River is supplied by the Kimani, Chimala, Igurusi, and other tributaries. Rivers Kiwira, Lufilyo, and Mbaka drain south into Lake Nyasa, while rivers Zira and Songwe form an inland drainage into Lake Rukwa.