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A busy commercial street in Songea

Songea

A fast-growing highland town in the far south-west, where Tanzania keeps its memorial to the Maji Maji war — and the place to fly into, draw cash and find a driver before heading for the coffee hills or Lake Nyasa.

Edited by Kabeer Dalvi · Updated 23 September 2026

A street in the town centre. Songea is a working market town, and the service centre for a very large rural region.

Status
Regional capital, Songea Municipal Council (since 2006)
Population
286,285, Songea Municipal (2022 census)
Climate
Days average about 27 °C, nights about 16 °C
Named after
Songea Lwafu Mbano, an Ngoni leader hanged here in 1906
Region
Ruvuma Region, far south-west
Map of Tanzania showing where Songea is, in Ruvuma Region

Where Songea is

Songea, marked, in Ruvuma Region, shaded.

Boundaries: NBS / UN OCHA, CC BY 3.0 IGO.

01The town

A market town that is growing fast

Fish ponds on the edge of Songea, with wooded hills behind
Fish ponds on the edge of town. Beyond the centre, Songea quickly turns into farmland and wooded hills.

Songea is the town of the far south-west: about 286,000 people within the municipal boundary at the 2022 census, and one of the faster-growing towns in Africa — one projection put its growth between 2020 and 2025 at close to 6% a year. It became a municipality in 2006, and most of what a visitor needs in this corner of the country — the airport, the banks, the bus stand, the fuel and the mechanics — is here.

It carries the name of Songea Lwafu Mbano, an Ngoni leader the German colonial government hanged here in 1906. That story, and the war behind it, belong to the whole region and are told on the Ruvuma guide and our page on the Maji Maji war; in town, they are what the memorial is for.

Day to day it is a busy, unpretentious place: a commercial centre of small shops and hardware stores, maize and beans coming in from the farms around it, and a strong church presence — Songea is the seat of a Catholic archdiocese. There are secondary schools, teacher-training colleges at Matogoro and a nursing school at Peramiho, so a good share of the town is young.

The weather is kinder than the latitude suggests. Days average about 27 °C and nights about 16 °C, and most of the year's roughly 1,050 mm of rain falls between November and April.

Drummers performing the mganda dance in Songea
Drummers performing the mganda dance in Songea. Ask locally when there is a performance rather than expecting one.
02The memorial

The museum, the graves, and 27 February

The reason most visitors come is the Maji Maji War Memorial Museum, run by the National Museum of Tanzania. It is small and serious: photographs of the men hanged on 27 February 1906, objects from the resistance, and the national account of the war.

Behind the museum are the graves. Songea Mbano lies here beside a mass grave of the men executed with him — the memorial counts about 67, a government newspaper account 66. For many local families this is a place of mourning rather than a sight, and it is worth visiting in that spirit.

Every year on 27 February the town marks the anniversary of the hangings. In November 2023 the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, came to the museum, met descendants of Songea Mbano and asked for forgiveness. "I am ashamed about what German colonial soldiers did to your forefather and his fellow warriors," he said, and he told his hosts Germany was ready to work with Tanzania on returning cultural property and human remains taken in the colonial period.

Near town, the Chandamali stone — a rock about 12 metres high with a cave beneath it — is remembered as a lookout and hiding place of Songea Mbano during the war, and is still used for offerings to the ancestors. Go with someone local who can explain it, and ask before photographing anything.

03Using the town

What you can reach from here

The long covered walkway of the mission hospital at Peramiho, west of Songea
The mission hospital at Peramiho, the easiest half-day from town.

From Songea

The museum and graves
In town — a morning
Peramiho Abbey
West of town — a half-day
Matogoro Forest
About 35 km north-west — a half-day
Mbinga highlands
West — a long day, or stay over
Mbamba Bay, Lake Nyasa
Beyond Mbinga — two days at least

Peramiho, west of town, is the easy half-day. The Benedictine abbey there is still working, with one of the south's major hospitals and a nursing school; its history is told on the Ruvuma guide. Ask at the gate before wandering, and keep it quiet — it is a monastery and a hospital before it is anything else.

Matogoro Forest, in the hills north-west of town — the Daily News puts it about 35 km out — is the town's nearest wild country: forest with colobus monkeys and baboons, cool air, views back over Songea and the Matengo highlands, and a flat-topped rock locally called the Fire Tower. The hills are a water catchment, and the Ruvuma River rises on this plateau close to Songea before running roughly 1,000 km to the Indian Ocean, most of it as the border with Mozambique.

Everything beyond that is a long day or more with a vehicle: the pit-farmed coffee hills around Mbinga, the descent to Mbamba Bay on Lake Nyasa, or the road east to Tunduru. Those belong to the region rather than the town, and the Ruvuma guide covers them.

04Arriving

One flight, and a long sealed road

By air, Air Tanzania flies between Dar es Salaam and Songea, about three times a week at the time of writing, in roughly an hour and a half. It is the only scheduled service, so book early and confirm directly: timetables on thin routes change.

By road, the paved T6 leaves the Tanzam highway at Makambako and runs about 295 km through Njombe to Songea. After more than 40 years of use it is worn, and in July 2026 the government and the World Bank began rebuilding it in phases, starting with the Songea–Litukila section and a 16 km Songea bypass — expect roadworks for a while. East, the road runs on to Tunduru and the coast at Mtwara; west, it climbs to Mbinga.

Money and supplies. Songea has the region's main banks and ATMs. Mbinga has some; beyond that, carry cash. The same goes for fuel.

05What to see

National museum

Maji Maji War Memorial Museum

Tanzania's museum of the Maji Maji war, with photographs of the leaders hanged in 1906. Run by the National Museum of Tanzania.

Memorial

The heroes' graves

Behind the museum: Songea Mbano's grave and the mass grave of those executed with him. A place to visit quietly.

Sacred site

Chandamali stone

A 12-metre rock with a cave beneath it, remembered as Songea Mbano's lookout. Still used for offerings — go with a local guide.

Abbey & hospital

Peramiho

The working Benedictine abbey west of town, and its large mission hospital.

Montane forest

Matogoro Forest

About 35 km north-west: colobus monkeys, cool air and wide views. A half-day on foot.

06Practical

Before you go

Arriving
Air Tanzania from Dar es Salaam about three times a week — confirm directly. By road, the T6 from Makambako via Njombe, about 295 km, now being rebuilt in sections.
Getting around
The centre is walkable. Peramiho and Matogoro need a taxi or a hired car and driver for the morning.
When to come
May to October is dry. Most of the rain falls between November and April.
The memorial
The graves are a place of mourning for many families. Dress modestly and ask before photographing people.
Money
Shillings. Songea has the region's main ATMs — draw what you need before heading west or east.

Last reviewed 23 September 2026

Edited by Kabeer Dalvi

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