Udzungwa-Mountains-Nationalpark

The Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a 1900 km ² large nature reserve in central Tanzania south of the Ruaha and west of the Kilombero.

The Udzungwa Mountains represent the largest mountain range in the chain of geologically very old ( about 200 million years) Eastern Arc Mountains. They are among the most biodiverse regions on Earth and are home to a high proportion of endemic species.

History

The park was formally opened in October 1992 by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and is the date (2006) youngest of the Tanzanian National Parks. The name in German means "Land of Dzungwa ", a subset of the Hehe, the temporarily the western slopes of the Udzungwa mountains populated after they had been expelled during confrontations with other groups around the leader Munyigumba and Mkwawa from the area around Iringa.

Ecosystem

The very ancient massifs of the Eastern Arc Mountains carry remnants of rain forests that originated about 30 million years. Both the massif and the forest share the Udzungwa Mountains are particularly large. The Udzungwa Mountains bordered to the east by the Selous Game Reserve, and on the northeast by the Mikumi National Park form a small part of the 740,000 km ² Selous - Niassa ecosystem, which extends into the neighboring countries of Zambia, Malawi and mainly Mozambique.

The eastern areas of the park include at altitudes around 250 m in the valley of the Kilombero some tropical rain forest with trees up to 50 meters height, the central and southern areas of the park at altitudes up to 1,000 m are covered by grassland, miombo woodland and a few mountain forests. To the west are steppe and steppe forests. With a height of 2,576 m elevation, the Luhombero located in the southwest of the park.

Due to the long development times, the isolation ( by the surrounding steppes ) and the variety of habitats including the Udzungwa Mountains to the areas with the world's highest biodiversity. About 25% of the plant species are endemic. In mammals, are the Udzungwa Red Colobus, the Sanje Mangabey ( a type of monkey ), the Udzungwa Zwerggalago and the gray-faced elephant shrew native only in the Udzungwa Mountains.

Tourism

The park is one of the rarely visited destinations in Tanzania. Since there are no motorable roads throughout the park area, only walking safaris on guided hikes on trails through the rainforest and Mwanihana, the second highest with 2,150 m mountain in the park are possible.

On the edge of the park, on the slopes of Morogoro to Ifakara, the B127, there are some simple accommodation, of which can be visited from the park. The only entrance is located near the village of Mang'ula, where there is also the headquarters of the rangers and the park headquarters are located.