Udzungwa Mountains National Park Overview
The Udzungwa Mountains National park Holding one of East Africa’s incredible forests, Being part of the Eastern Arc Mountains, Udzungwa is home to a fascinating diversity of life. The park covers about 1990 sq km on the slopes of the Udzungwa Mountains at 250m altitude to 2,500m above sea level on Lohomero Peak. Udzungwa is the largest and most biodiverse of a chain of a dozen large forest-swathed mountains that rise majestically from the flat coastal scrub of eastern Tanzania. Known collectively as the Eastern Arc Mountains, this archipelago of isolated massifs has also been dubbed the African Galapagos for its treasure-trove of endemic plants and animals, most familiarly the delicate African violet.
The significant attractions incorporate its organically diverse forest, rolling hills, mountains, valleys, and waterfalls that make the park outstanding scenic. But also holding some plant species discovered no place else on the planet, from a little African violet to 30-meter high trees. Nature Lovers can explore mountain forests for a number of rare, endemic, and endangered species of flora and fauna including endemic species of sanje mangabey, Iringa red colobus, and endemic Udzungwa Forest Partridge and Rufous-winged sunbird. The Udzungwa is without a doubt one of only a handful hardly any evident virgin and unique forested lands remaining on the planet.
Wildlife in Udzungwa Mountains National park
Different primates are commonly seen in the forest while on nature trails and some of them include Sanje crested mangabey and Iringa red colobus that are endemic to this Tanzania park and found nowhere else in the world. Other sights within the parks include different species of forest birds, butterflies, insects, amphibians, reptiles and other small mammals.
The best time to visit Udzungwa
The best time to visit the Udzungwa Mountains National park comes around June to October for the best hiking experience before the short rains come in to bring the plants to blossom. It is possible to visit the park at any time of year but it can be slippery during the rains.
What to do in Udzungwa Mountains National park
Good hiking trails exist and Sanje waterfalls are a prime attraction, plunging 170m in a misty spray over a rock. The beautiful waterfalls are a fascination for Udzungwa tourists and hikers. The trail to Mwanihana peak is another challenging hiking trail that leads through sugar estates and into the high plateau- takes about 2 days to reach this peak that ranks as second-highest on Udzungwa National park
Climate in Udzungwa
The Udzungwa Mountains National park receives most of its annual rainfall from November to May. The maximum temperature is 31 degrees in October, with the minimum temperature of 21 degrees in July.
By Air: Coastal operates daily flights to/from Udzungwa/Kilombero to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. This flight runs every afternoon and links Udzungwa Mountains National park to the rest of the safari circuit. It is also possible to fly to Mikumi airport using Safari Airlink and drive down the valley to Udzungwa.
By Road: Udzungwa is reached en-route to Mikumi and Ruaha Tanzania parks. The park is a 5hours drive from Dar-es-salaam (350km) and 65km southwest of Mikumi National park.