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Udzungwa Mountains

The Udzungwa Mountains lie two hours drive to the south west of Mikumi and form Tanzania’s newest national park. Largely forested and covering an area of 2,000 km², it contains many endemic species of mammals, birds, reptiles and plants. The park also has the widest altitudinal range of rainforest in East Africa, which in some places stretches uninterrupted from 250 metres above sea level right through to almost 2,500 metres.

As a result of this habitat variety, the Udzungwa’s have one of the highest occurring rates of species endemism in the world. More than 25% of its plant species are endemic. The thick forest also supports many large mammals, including elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, eland, sable and seven primate species. Of these, three are endemic; the Uhehe red colobus, the Sanje crested mangabey and the Matunda galago - which was only discovered in 1996.

The Udzungwa forests also rate highly amongst Africa’s bird hotspots. Offering certainly the best forest bird-watching in Tanzania, it contains approximately 400 recorded species. Among them are 25 of the 32 species unique to the Tanzania-Malawi Endemic Bird Area. Recently discovered specials include the rufous-winged sunbird (1984), and the Udzungwa forest partridge (1991).

There are no roads in the Udzungwa Mountains national park, so all safari game viewing is done on foot on the many nature trails. One of the most interesting guided walks is to Sanje waterfall, which plunges over 170 metres into a large pool, and in which swimming is permitted. As well as day walks, longer excursions with a night spent camping en-route are also arranged.

The park is accessible all year, though it is best to avoid the rainy season between March and May. There is no accommodation in the park. Most visitors use one of the camps in Mikumi national park as a base for visiting the Udzungwa.