# Rukwa > A highland plateau held between two rift lakes — Tanganyika on one side, the shifting soda water of Lake Rukwa on the other — with the Fipa iron-working tradition behind it and Kalambo Falls at its southern edge. Canonical: https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/rukwa Last updated: 2026-09-17 Edited by: Kabeer Dalvi (https://seeyoutanzania.com/about) ## At a glance - **Region:** Rukwa Region, far west - **Population:** 1,540,519 (2022 census) - **Area:** 27,765 km², including 6,605 km² of lake water - **Capital:** Sumbawanga, on the Ufipa plateau - **Borders:** Zambia, and Lake Tanganyika ## Map of Rukwa Region **Districts and councils:** Kalambo · Nkasi · Sumbawanga Municipal · Sumbawanga Rural Councils as counted in the 2022 census (National Bureau of Statistics). ## Ufipa, and the smelters The region is built around the **Ufipa plateau**, a highland averaging about **1,700 metres** between the two arms of the rift valley. Its people, the **Fipa**, were ironworkers of a sophistication that has been studied for a century: a sequence of furnace types runs from the small globular *katukutu*, dated to roughly **1550–1800**, to the tall *malungu* shaft furnaces of two to four metres, often built into termite mounds. Smelting from ore continued here into the **1950s**. In the **1840s** the **Ngoni** under **Zwangendaba** reached the plateau at the end of a migration of more than a thousand miles from southern Africa; he died near Ufipa in about **1848** and his following split, some groups continuing north and east. The German colonial period left a post at **Bismarckburg** — today's **Kasanga**, on Lake Tanganyika — whose fort ruins still stand above the shore. In **2012** the region was reduced to its present shape when Mpanda District was separated to form **Katavi Region**. ## One of the country's four grain baskets Agriculture accounts for the large majority of income here, and Rukwa is one of the handful of southern regions — with Ruvuma, Mbeya and Iringa — whose **maize** surplus feeds much of the rest of Tanzania. Rice, beans and cassava are grown widely, and [Sumbawanga](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/sumbawanga) is the market for all of it: the regional capital on the plateau, and the last town with fuel, banks and a mechanic before anywhere else in this guide. The two lakes are the other economy. **Lake Tanganyika** in the west is deep, clear and rich in fish; **Lake Rukwa** in the east is shallow, alkaline and changeable — it was about 48 kilometres long in 1929 and about 128 kilometres a decade later. Both support fishing communities, and dried fish moves inland from each. In **2016** explorers announced significant **helium** deposits in the Rukwa basin — a scarce industrial gas with few major sources worldwide. Whether it becomes an industry is still an open question; see [mining in Tanzania](https://seeyoutanzania.com/sectors/mining). **What the region produces** - **Maize:** A major surplus region - **Rice & beans:** In the valleys and on the plateau - **Cassava:** A staple food crop - **Fish:** Lake Tanganyika and Lake Rukwa - **Helium:** Deposits reported in the Rukwa basin ## Kalambo, and the oldest wooden structure known The **Fipa** remain the region's main people, with the **Nyiha**, **Mambwe** and **Lungu** alongside them, and Ufipa has a settled, agricultural culture with a long history of trade in iron, salt and fish. At the southern edge of the region the **Kalambo River** falls over the plateau's rim in a single drop of **235 metres** — one of the highest uninterrupted falls in Africa — before running into Lake Tanganyika. The site above the falls is one of the most important in African archaeology and has been on **Zambia's UNESCO Tentative List** since **2009**. In **2023**, researchers reported in *Nature* that waterlogged sediments on the Zambian bank preserved two logs deliberately notched and joined **at least 476,000 years ago**: the earliest known wooden structure built by human ancestors. The **Lake Tanganyika** shore below the plateau — Kasanga, Kipili and the fishing villages between them — is among the least-visited coastlines in the country, with clear water, rocky bays and the old lake-steamer ports. ## Towns, parks and places across Rukwa Region ### Sumbawanga (Town) The regional capital on the Ufipa plateau, and the base for the lakes and the falls. [Read the guide](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/sumbawanga) ### Kalambo Falls (Waterfall) A 235-metre single drop on the Zambian border, and a prehistoric site of world importance. ### Kasanga (Lakeshore village) A small port on Lake Tanganyika with the ruins of the German fort at Bismarckburg above it. ### Kipili (Lakeshore village) A fishing village of rocky bays and islands on the Tanganyika shore, in Nkasi District. ### Lake Rukwa (Rift lake) The shallow, alkaline lake in the valley east of the plateau, shared with Songwe and Katavi regions. ### Mbizi Forest Reserve (Montane forest) Forest between 2,100 and 2,400 m directly above the capital — covered on the Sumbawanga page. [Read the guide](https://seeyoutanzania.com/guides/sumbawanga) ## What to see ### Kalambo Falls *Waterfall.* The drop, the gorge, and an archaeological record running back hundreds of thousands of years. ### Lake Tanganyika at Kipili and Kasanga *Lakeshore.* Clear water, rocky islands and fishing villages, with the Bismarckburg ruins at Kasanga. ### Lake Rukwa *Rift lake.* Birds, fishermen and a lake that changes size from decade to decade. ### The rift escarpments *Landscape.* The plateau's steep edges above both valleys. The viewpoints east are a half-day from Sumbawanga. ### Fipa iron-smelting sites *Archaeology.* Furnace remains and slag across the plateau. Go with a local guide who knows the sites. ## Before you go - **Base yourself:** Sumbawanga, the regional capital. Every road into Rukwa arrives there, and it holds the region's only ATMs, fuel and vehicle hire. The Sumbawanga guide covers arriving, staying and what it costs. - **Scale:** The region is 27,765 km² and the sights are far apart. Kalambo Falls, Kasanga and the Lake Rukwa shore are each a full day out and back from the capital. - **Getting around:** Rough roads beyond the plateau. A 4x4 with a driver who knows the tracks, and no more than one destination a day. - **Best months:** June to October, when the unsealed roads down the escarpments are passable. - **The Zambian border:** Kalambo Falls sits on it and the river is the boundary. Carry your passport, and cross only at an official post. ## Checked against - [2022 Population and Housing Census — administrative units](https://www.nbs.go.tz/statistics/topic/census-2022), National Bureau of Statistics, Tanzania - [Rukwa Region — area, districts, peoples, Katavi split](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rukwa_Region), Wikipedia - [Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06557-9), Nature - [Kalambo Falls — height and Tentative List status](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalambo_Falls), Wikipedia - [Fipa furnaces and slag: distinguishing criteria based on physical analysis](https://www.scirp.org/html/4-1140041_53144.htm), Archaeological Discovery (SCIRP) - [Lake Rukwa — size, fluctuation, helium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Rukwa), Wikipedia - [Mbizi Forest Reserve](https://www.tfs.go.tz/index.php/en/forests/mbizi), Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS)