Udzungwa MountainsNational Park

Udzungwa Mountains National Park is Tanzania's premier hiking park: a vast block of montane rainforest in the Eastern Arc Mountains where there are no roads, only trails. It shelters primates found nowhere else on earth — including the Udzungwa red colobus and the Sanje crested mangabey — and its best-known walk climbs to the Sanje Waterfalls, which plunge through the forest with views across the Kilombero Valley. It pairs perfectly with a game-drive safari in nearby Mikumi or Ruaha.

The Udzungwa Mountains rise from the Kilombero lowlands to well over 2,000 metres, and the national park, gazetted in 1992, protects an unbroken sweep of habitats from lowland forest to montane grassland. Scientists often call the Eastern Arc the 'Galápagos of Africa' because so many plants and animals here evolved in isolation.

Primates are the headline. Visitors regularly see Udzungwa red colobus, Angolan black-and-white colobus and Sykes' monkeys, and with patience the rare Sanje crested mangabey. The forest is also home to the Udzungwa forest partridge, a bird first described by science in the 1990s, alongside chameleons, butterflies and endemic plants.

Everything is explored on foot. Short trails lead to the lower Sanje falls, a full-day hike reaches the upper cascades and viewpoints, and multi-day camping treks head deeper into the mountains for experienced walkers. Rangers accompany every hike.