The tree is endemic to montane Juniperus forest in the West Usambara Mountains where it is under threat from expansion of commercial pine plantations and agricultural development.
It is found primarily in coastal areas, many of them densely populated, but it also extends inland into the much more rural Taita Hills in Kenya and the western Usambara Mountains in Tanzania.
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A railway company was created in 1891 with the aim, to connect the port of Tanga at the Indian Ocean with the Lake Victoria by passing south of the Usambara Mountains.
Kimweri ye Nyumbai (died 1862), the ruler of the Shambaa people of the Usambara Mountains in what is now Tanzania between around 1815 and 1862
Kimweri Mputa Magogo (died 1999), a traditional leader of the Shambaa people of the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania
Shambala, also Kishambala, (ki)Sambaa, (ki)Shambaa is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzania.