Size

1990 sq km (about 1240 sq miles)

Location

5 hours (348 km, about 215 miles) from Dar es Salaam; 65 km (about 40 miles) Southwest of Mikumi.

Getting there

Drive from Dar es Salaam.

To Do

From a 2 hour hike to the waterfall to camping safaris. Combine with nearby Mikumi or en route to Ruaha.

Best Time

Possible year round although it can be slippery in wet season. The dry season is Jun –Nov, but be prepared for rain anytime.

The Udzungwa Mountains are almost unearthly. Primeval, burgeoning with rampant, verdant growth. An enchanted forest of leafy glades freckled with sunshine, where fungus, lichen, moss and ferns ingratiate themselves into every damp crevice. It is at once vivid detail and larger than life: a new variety of the tiny African violet discovered in the shelter of 30 meter high trees.

It is a hot house nurturing species found nowhere else on earth, a secret bank account of precious genetic stock.  Of its six types of primate, two are endemic- the Iringa red Colobus monkey and the Sanje Crested Mangabey, not detected until 1979.  Four previously unknown birds, including the rufous-winged sunbird and a new species of the partridge-like francolin, make this Tanzanian richest forest bird habitat and among the three most important bird conservation areas on the continent.  One of East Africa’s great forests, undoubtedly this undisturbed habitat is yet to reveal all its treasures, waiting for further scientific exploration to catalogue its wealth.

A link in the chain of Africa’s eastern arc mountains, Udzungwa is made for hiking and climbing with trails through the rainforest and escarpment.  The plateau is a natural penthouse, with views of sugar plantations against a patchwork of grassland and mountain forest extending over 100 kilometers. But the centerpiece is the Sanje River where it reinvents itself as a spectacular waterfall, plunging 170 meters through the forest to land in a spray of mist in the valley below