The Imatong Mountains also Immatong, or rarely Matonge, are located in in the state of Eastern Equatoria in southeastern South Sudan, and extend into the Northern Region of Uganda.
Mount Kinyeti is the highest mountain of the range at 3,187 metres (10,456 ft), and the highest point of South Sudan.
The range has an equatorial climate and had dense montane forests supporting diverse wildlife. Since the mid-20th century the rich ecology has increasingly been severely degraded by native forest clearance and subsistence farming, causing extensive erosion of the slopes.
The entrance to this reserve is reached by driving 192 kilometers from Juba east to Torit and then driving 60 kilometers south to Katire. Katire is an old British Forestry station built next to a running stream.
The forest has been heavily logged for timber and charcoal since British colonial times, with much of the reserve in secondary growth. Plantations of teak, Australian Eucalyptus and soft woods have been planted in some areas. In the 1950s it was ruled that there could be no logging above the 1500 meter level (4900 feet), but that is difficult to enforce. The Lotuko, Acholi and Lango tribes all make use of the reserve that covers 1032 square kilometers (103,200 hectares).
Rainfall in the reserve is the highest in all of South Sudan measuring 2261 mm annually.
The highest peak in all of South Sudan is located within the reserve called Mount Kinyeti at 3187 meters (10,456 feet).12 major streams/small rivers originate out of the reserve which feed into the Badingalo National Park.
The Imatong Mountains massif lies mainly within Torit County (western part) and Ikotos County (eastern part) of Eastern Equatoria state. It is located some 190 kilometres (120 mi) southeast of Juba and south of the main road from Torit to the Kenyan border town of Lokichoggio.
The mountain range rises steeply from the surrounding plains, which slope gradually down from about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) on the South Sudan-Uganda border in the south to 600 metres (2,000 ft) at Torit in the north.
These plains are crossed by many streams, separated by low, rounded ridges, and dotted with small gneiss hills, outliers of the main mountain range.
The mountains are formed of crystalline basement rock that rises through the Tertiary and Quaternary unconsolidated deposits of the plains in the South Sudan-Uganda frontier zone. The most widespread types of rock are leucocratic gneisses rich in quartz.The mountains are sharply faulted and are the source of many year-round rivers.
The mountains are highest in the southeast where a group of peaks reach about 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), and the tallest, Mount Kinyeti, reaches 3,187 metres (10,456 ft). This central block group of high mountains around Mount Kinyeti are sometimes called the Lomariti or Lolibai mountains, and the high central part on the Uganda side is sometimes called the Lomwaga Mountains.
Sub-ranges
The Modole or Langia mountains in the southeast of the central block are separated from the lower Teretenya ridge to the east by the Shilok River, a tributary of the Koss river.
Sub-ranges run to the northwest, west, and southwest of the central block, The northwest and west ranges are separated by the Kinyeti River valley, and the west and southwest ranges by the Ateppi valley. The ranges are generally about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) high, with peaks rising to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). The northwestern chain culminates in Mount Garia and Mount Konoro, both about 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) high, rising above the villages of Gilo and Katire. The western chain, with peaks rising up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) high, is usually known as the Acholi Mountains. The southwestern chain extending into Uganda is often called the Agoro Mountains.
Watersheds
The Kinyeti River and other streams that drain the northern slopes of the mountains feed the Badigeru Swamps, which are 100 kilometres (62 mi) long and up to 25 kilometres (16 mi) wide at high water, but generally only 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide. Some of the water from the northern end of this swamp may filter eastward to the Veveno River, then via the Sobat River to the White Nile. Some of the water may filter westward to the Bahr el Jebel section of the White Nile. To the south and west the mountains are drained by the fast-flowing Aswa River / Ateppi system. To the northeast the mountains are drained by the Koss River, which flows between the Imatongs and the Dongotona Hills.
Blue Monkeys are found in the Imatong Forest
A 1984 report listed Bushbuck, Blue Duiker, Colobus Monkey,Blue Monkey, Elephant, Leopard, Nile Buffalo and Hyeana in the reserve. Today the Elephant and Buffalo are gone. It is estimated that over 500 species of bird use the forest, many migrating between Europe and Kenya. The endangered "Spotted Ground Thrush" is found in the reserve.
Flora
The plains and the lower parts of the mountains are covered by deciduous woodland, wooded grassland and bamboo thickets to the north and west. The areas to the east and southeast are in the rain shadow of the mountains, with dry subdesert grassland or deciduous or semi-evergreen bush. The mountains have rich diversity of flora, with hundreds of species that are found nowhere else in South Sudan. Their diversity is due to their position between the West African rain forest, the Ethiopian plateau and the East African mountains, coupled with their relative isolation for long periods during which new species could emerge.
Vegetation in the lower areas includes woodlands of Albizia and Terminalia, and mixed Khaya lowland semi-evergreen forest up to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).Above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) there is montane forest with Podocarpus, Croton, Macaranga and Albizia up to 2,900 metres (9,500 ft). The levels above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) do not seem to have ever been inhabited by humans, but have been visited by honey-gatherers and hunters, and the fires they have started have destroyed the forest on many hill tops. At the highest levels, the forest is replaced by Hagenia woodland, Erica (heather) thicket and areas of bamboo.
Fauna
According to a 1984 report, the mountains supported abundant wildlife, including healthy populations of colobus and blue monkey, bush-pig and a local sub-species of bushbuck. The south eastern Kipia and Lomwaga Uplands were least visited by hunters and had the largest populations of elephant, buffalo, duiker's, hyaena and leopard.
Mammals that normally inhabit a forest environment show greatest differentiation from similar mammals elsewhere, probably due to isolation of the Imatong forests from other forests by wide areas of semi-arid savanna. This isolation dates back to the last Pleistocene Pluvial period about 12,000 years ago. The forest contains many birds found in no other part of South Sudan, and is a resting place for European songbirds en route to their overwintering places in East Africa.
Birdlife includes the endangered Spotted Ground-thrush Zoothera guttata.
People
The villages and settlements of the region are inhabited by Nilotic people including Lotuko in the east, Acholi in the west and Lango in the southern part. They practice subsistence farming and raise some livestock.
The people of the area mostly live on the plains at the foot of the mountains, but recently they have been forced to move into the mountains as high as 2,300 metres (7,500 ft) to find land for farming. Their agricultural practices have led to serious erosion of the steep slopes.
Relatively small numbers of the people practice Christianity. Foreign Christian missionaries have been entering the remote mountainous areas since 2005.
Gneiss rock hills within the reserve
SAFARIS INTO THE IMATONG MOUNTAINS -
This is a walking safari, that requires you to be able to walk over steep terraine and cross streams a few feet deep.We can drive as far as Katire, then you must walk.Only in the dry season of the months of late December to mid April should this be attempted. Other months the rain and mud would be too extreme to walk.
We can arrange for porters and set up base camps with fly tents and cook, given enough advanced notice. You should be able to carry your own back pack with your clothes and bedroll. The water in the streams you will pass is clean enough to drink.
Shorter safaris to just explore the forest and meet the Lotuko people at Torit are also available.
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