The Imatong Mountains (also Immatong, or rarely Matonge) are mainly located in Eastern Equatoria in southeastern South Sudan, and extend into the Northern Region of Uganda. Mount Kinyeti is the highest mountain of the range at , 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. Geography The Imatong Mountains massif lies mainly within Torit County (western part) and Ikotos County (eastern part) of Imatong State. It is located some 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 on the South Sudan-Uganda border in the south to 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 , and the tallest, Mount Kinyeti, reaches . 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 high, with peaks rising to . The northwestern chain culminates in Mount Garia and Mount Konoro, both about high, rising above the villages of Gilo and Katire. The western chain, with peaks rising up to high, is usually known as the Acholi Mountains. The