Video of Udzungwa mountain water falls
Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a
national park in Tanzania with
a size of 1,990 km2 (770 miles2). The habitats contained within
the national park include tropical rainforest,
mountain forest, miombo
woodland, grassland and steppe.
There is a vertical height range of 250–2,576 metres (the peak of Lohomero),
which incorporates the Udzungwa Mountains part
of the Eastern
Arc Mountains. There are more than 400 bird species, 2500 plant species
(25% of which are endemics)
and 6 primate species. It has the second largest biodiversity of a national
park in Africa.
Six
primate species have been recorded, five of which are endemic. The Iringa red colobus and Sanje crested
mangabey are only found in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, the
mangabey species was undetected by biologists prior to 1979.
Tourism
in the Udzungwa Mountains national Park revolves around hiking and trekking, as
the park has no roads and is accessible only on foot. The hiking trails range
in difficulty from the short one-hour Sonjo trek to the extremely challenging
6-day camping trek the Lumemo Trail. The most common walk is the Sanje
Waterfalls trail which takes approximately four hours to complete and
allows the visitor access to the stunning 170 m waterfall and includes
swimming in the waterfall plunge pools as part of the activity.
Accommodation
for visitors within the park is only possible on a camping basis as there are
no lodges within the park borders. Within the nearby village of Mang'ula there
are also a couple of local guesthouses providing a budget option