Udzungwa Mountains
National Park · TANAPA
Rainforest, waterfalls and primates found nowhere else on earth.
- Area
- 1,990 km²
- Established
- 1994
- Region
- Iringa and Morogoro regions
- Best time
- June–October; the falls are fullest after the rains
Wildlife
- Udzungwa red colobus
- Sanje mangabey
- Grey-faced sengi
- Elephant
- Duiker
- Forest birds
Udzungwa is not a game-drive park. There is essentially one road; the park is explored on foot, which makes it the odd one out on this list and the reason ecologists rate it far above its visitor numbers.
It is the largest block of the Eastern Arc Mountains, a chain of ancient crystalline ranges sometimes called the Galápagos of Africa for the endemism the isolation has produced. Forest runs unbroken here from around 250 metres to over 2,500, which is rare anywhere, and species keep being described: the Udzungwa red colobus and the Sanje mangabey live nowhere else, and the grey-faced sengi — a forest elephant-shrew the size of a small rabbit — was new to science as recently as 2008.
The standard walk is to the Sanje Falls, a 170-metre cascade reached in a half-day climb through forest, with a swimming pool at the base and a view out over the sugar estates of the Kilombero valley. Longer routes run several days across the plateau.
Sanje Falls
170 metres, half a day up through forest, with a pool at the bottom.
Udzungwa red colobus
Endemic to these mountains and reliably seen on the lower trails.
Mwanihana trail
Two or three days to the escarpment top, camping on the way.
Eastern Arc endemism
Plants and animals that exist here and in no other forest.
About 65 km from Mikumi, or six to seven hours from Dar es Salaam. Usually combined with Mikumi or Ruaha.
Covers the drive out and back, and the guide's travelling time.