Overview

The Udzungwa Mountain National Park is a slice of the Udzungwa Arc Mountains in short the Udzungwa is part of a broken chain of mountains called the Eastern Arc Mountains that lie close to the coast of East Africa from southern Kenya to southern Tanzania, the Usambaras, the Pares and the Ulugurus are some of this chain.

Udzungwa National Park was formally national forest reserve up to 1992 when became a national Park, it covers an area of 1990 sq.km (770 sq miles) Lying between 300 and 2800 mts above Sea level. The plateau is a natural penthouse with view of grassland and mountain forest stretching over 100Km of Sanjie River waterfall, which plunges at 170 Meters. The major attraction of the park is its bio-diversity and unique rainforest, where many rare plants, not found anywhere else in the world, have been identified, from a tiny Africa no let to 30 meter high trees.

Location: Just a 5hours drive from Dar-es-salaam 350 Km (215 miles) and Southwest of Mikumi is 10 Km (about 40 miles).

Best time to visit: The dry season is June - October but it is accessible year rou nd although slippery in the wet.

Birdlife: There are a large number of birds including endemic species and Francolin.

Wildlife: They include Iringa Columbus Monkeys and Sanje Crested Mangabey as well as Leopard, eland and waterbuck and elusive creatures of the forest such as bushbuck and duiker.

Access: From Dar-es-salaam located a few Kilometers off Mikumi National Park road on the way to Iringa, it is 350 kms and 65 kms Southwest of Mikumi. Tanzania - Zambia Railway line (TAZARA) Can also reach the Udzungwa National Park. Its five hours drive from Dar es Salaam.

To do: From a two- hours hike to the waterfall to camping Safaris, Combine with nearby Mikumi or en-route to Ruaha.

Accommodation: Camping inside the park, two modest but comfortable lodges with en-suite rooms with 1 km of the park entrance.