The Mulanje Massif, also known as Mount Mulanje, is a large inselberg in southern Malawi. Sapitwa Peak, the highest point on the massif at 3,002 m, is the highest point in Malawi. It lies 65 km east of Blantyre, rising sharply from the surrounding plains of Phalombe and the Mulanje district. It forms part of a proposed ecoregion, to be called the South East Africa Montane Archipelago (SEAMA).
Composite satellite image of Mt. Mulanje
Mount Mulanje in the distance, seen from a pathway.
Western side of Mulanje Mountain in Sunset, seen from Likhubula Falls
An inselberg or monadnock is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an Afrikaans word from the Dutch diminutive word kopje. If the inselberg is dome-shaped and formed from granite or gneiss, it can also be called a bornhardt, though not all bornhardts are inselbergs.
An inselberg results when a body of rock resistant to erosion, such as granite, occurring within a body of softer rocks, is exposed by differential erosion and lowering of the surrounding landscape.
Pietra di Bismantova in the Apennines, Italy
The Spitzkoppe of Namibia, a 670-metre (2,200 ft) granite peak formed by early Cretaceous rifting and magmatism.
Lion atop a koppie in the Serengeti, northern Tanzania
Mount Mulanje, a large inselberg in southeastern Malawi
