The
Lebombo Mountains, also called
Lubombo Mountains, are an 800km long, narrow
rangeA mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
of mountains in Southern Africa stretching from Hluhluwe in
KwaZulu-NatalKwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in the north. Part of the mountains are found in South Africa,
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
and
SwazilandSwaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
.
Kruger National ParkKruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers and extends from north to south and from east to west.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is...
and
Phongolo Nature ReservePhongolo Nature Reserve is an Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife reserve in Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.The reserve is a co-operative conservation project between private landowners, tribal communities and government conservation services, and aims to form the heart of a large ecological and...
protect part of the range. Geologically, the range is considered a monocline; part of a rifted volcanic margin.
The mountains dominate Lubombo District in Swaziland. Towns in the area include
SitekiSiteki is a town in eastern Swaziland, lying west of the Lebombo Mountains. It is named for a declaration of Mbandzeni permitting his troops to marry....
in the centre,
LubhukuLubhuku is a village in eastern Swaziland in Lubombo District. It lies about 30 kilometres west of Siteki and 60 kilometres north of Big Bend and Mayaluka on the western side of the Lubombo Mountains....
in the west and
MayalukaMayaluka is a town in south-eastern Swaziland about 5 kilometres north-east of Big Bend. The town lies on the Lusutfu river....
and
Big BendBig Bend is a town in eastern Swaziland, lying on the Lusutfu River. Its main industry is based on sugar plantations.- Schools :The Edu-care Centre is a preschool which caters to Swazi and expatriate children....
in the south with the Lusutfu River running past the southern region of the mountain range. At the north lie the towns of
SimunyeSimunye is a town in eastern Swaziland about 30 kilometres from the border with South Africa. It lies slightly west of the Lubombo Mountains, about 55 north-east of Siteki...
, Tambankulu and Namaacha, and the
Mlawula Nature ReserveMlawula Nature Reserve is situated in north-eastern Swaziland. It covers approximately 16,500 hectares and is adjacent to Mbuluzi Game Reserve, Simunye Nature Reserve and Hlane Royal National Park....
as well as the Mbuluzi River.
A number of rivers, including the
PongolaThe Pongola River is a river in South Africa. It is a tributary of the Maputo River. It rises near Utrecht in northern KwaZulu-Natal, flows east through Pongola, is dammed at Jozini, and crosses the Ubombo Mountains; then it flows north towards Mozambique, joining the Maputo River....
, Mkuze, and Lusutfu, cross the mountains from west to east.
The name is the mountains is derived from the
ZuluZulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
word
ubombo meaning "big nose".