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Udzungwa Mountains National Park
Brooding and primeval, the forests of Udzungwa
seem positively enchanted: a verdant refuge of sunshine-dappled
glades enclosed by 30-metre (100 foot) high trees, their buttresses
layered with fungi, lichens, mosses and ferns.
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.
Udzungwa alone among the ancient ranges of the
Eastern Arc has been accorded national park status. It is also
unique within Tanzania in that its closed-canopy forest spans
altitudes of 250 metres (820 feet) to above 2,000 metres (6,560 ft)
without interruption.
Not a conventional game viewing destination,
Udzungwa is a magnet for hikers. An excellent network of forest
trails includes the popular half-day ramble to Sanje Waterfall,
which plunges 170 metres (550 feet) through a misty spray into the
forested valley below.
The more challenging two-night Mwanihana Trail
leads to the high plateau, with its panoramic views over surrounding
sugar plantations, before ascending to Mwanihana peak, the
second-highest point in the range.
Ornithologists are attracted to Udzungwa for an
avian wealth embracing more than 400 species, from the lovely and
readily-located green-headed oriole to more than a dozen secretive
Eastern Arc endemics.
Four bird species are peculiar to Udzungwa,
including a forest partridge first discovered in 1991 and more
closely related to an Asian genus than to any other African fowl.
Of six primate species recorded, the Iringa red
colobus and Sanje Crested Mangabey both occur nowhere else in the
world – the latter, remarkably, remained undetected by biologists
prior to 1979.
Undoubtedly, this great forest has yet to reveal
all its treasures: ongoing scientific exploration will surely add to
its diverse catalogue of endemics.
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