 The Pangani
River drains the southern side of Africa's greatest
mountain (Mt Kilimanjaro) as well as its neighbour
(Mt Meru) and a large part of the Pare and Usambara
Mountains of the famous Eastern Arc chain in
Tanzania. While the principal watersheds of
the Pangani are mountainous areas of high precipitation,
the main river channel runs through the dry
Maasai Steppe of northern Tanzania where rainfall
rarely exceeds 500 mm per annum (for use in
trial).
The Pangani River Basin covers about
42,000 km2 and is shared by Kenya and
Tanzania. The mean annual flow of the
Pangani has decreased over the last four
decades but averages about 37 m3s-1 although
this has been drastically reduced in recent
years. The main north-western tributary
of the Pangani (the Kikuletwa River) brings
slightly sodic waters from the volcanic
slopes of Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro while
the other northern tributary, the Ruvu
River, drains a complex in Kenya and Tanzania
that surrounds Lake Jipe on the international
border.
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