Usambara is a beautiful mountain range with grassy plains and virgin tropical rainforest. The area has many colorful villages you can visit during your stay here. The Usambara mountains are located northeastern Tanzania, near Mkomazi National Park, about 3 hours’ drive (110 km) west of Tanga.
It is one of the undiscovered places in Tanzania. And this is what makes it a true paradise for nature and hiking lovers. The lush green mountains have a cool climate that is ideal for walks and hikes. But one of the best reasons to hike the Usambara Mountains is the amazing view. You’ll see sweeping hills, mountains, valleys, farmland, picturesque villages, colorful markets and plantations everywhere you go.
The Usambara Mountains comprise the easternmost ranges of the Eastern Arc Mountains. They are 90 km long and about half that wide. Faulting and uplifting formed them nearly two million years ago, and they are composed of Precambrian metamorphic rocks.
Birds in Usambara
Usambara Mountains are very unusual in East Africa with their natural regions still covered in tropical forests and therefore they are considered a tremendously significant ecologically and a biodiversity hotspot with many protected zones. Several species are living in the Usambara forests, including the Usambara eagle-owl, the Usambara akalat, the Usambara weaver and the African violet. You can also spot other bird like the Mountain buzzard, Crown eagle, Eastern bronze-naped pigeon, Lemon and Dusky turtle dove and the Hartlaub’s Turaco
Flora and Fauna found in the Usambara mountains
You can find over 3000 plant species and over 600 tree species that thrive in the Usambara Mountains. Therefore it is known as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. It’s here for attracts naturalists and nature lovers from all over the world who come to watch birds, study trees and flowers or butterflies. Several species are endemic to the Usambara forests.
Most common animals in Usambara Mountains
Hiking activities
You can go for a hike with a local guide and discover the beautiful diversity of this vast area. On a clear day you can see the grass plains of Mkomazi as well as Kilimanjaro and enjoy the beautiful views that this area has to offer. During this special walk you will have the opportunity to meet the locals who will wave to you and give you a friendly smile. The locals are very hospitable and if you are open and interested, you will be spontaneously invited to get to know them better.
You can hike up the Irente viewpoint to get a panoramic view of Mazinde village almost 1000 m below and the vast Maasai plains beyond.
Or walk through the fertile farmlands of Jaegertal to a fruit tree nursery and learn more about the different varieties of fruit trees and their propagation. The “Growing Rock” tour starts from Soni where you walk to the top of the Kwamongo Mountain, famous for its butterflies and enjoy views of Soni, Lushoto and the Handeni plains from the peak.
Travel time to Usambara
Best time to visit Usambara Mountains
Although the climate is comfortable year-round, paths get too muddy for trekking during the rainy season from March through May. The best time to visit is from June to October, after the rains and when the air is clearest.
Pangani is a town in northeast Tanzania that lies 45 km south of Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River. It is the headquarters of Pangani District.
Although archaeologists have found the remains of small 15th century settlements on the cliffs just north of Pangani, the modern town came to prominence in the nineteenth century, when, under nominal Zanzibari rule, it was a major terminus of caravan routes to the deep interior. From the 1860s onward townspeople established large plantations of sugar and coconut in Mauya, along the banks of the river just west of town.
The plantations were worked by slave labor, and Pangani also became an important center of the slave trade, shipping captives taken in the wars attendant on the collapse of the Shambaa kingdom in the Usambara Mountains to the plantations of Pemba and Zanzibar. After the Sultan of Zanzibar signed treaties with Great Britain proscription the ocean-going trade in slaves in 1873, Pangani became a center for smuggling slaves across the narrow channel to Pemba, in evasion of British warships.
In 1888, Pangani was the center of an armed movement to resist German colonial conquest of the entire mainland Tanzanian coast. The local leader of the resistance was Abushiri bin Salim al-Harthi, a Swahili-speaker born in Zanzibar who owned a small estate at the suburb that now bears his name. Abushiri was instrumental in coordinating resistance to German conquest along much of the coast. The Germans hanged him at Pangani in December 1889.
Several historical sites in and around the town serve as reminders of the strong Arabic influence and the later German and British colonial era in Tanganyika. The district boma or headquarters is the most impressive building remaining from the period of Zanzibari rule.
The Mauya plantations no longer grow sugar, but produce much coconut and betel-nut. Pangani was once a secondary center of the sisal industry, servicing sisal plantations to the north and south of town. Pangani also has a fishing industry. In recent years beach resorts north and south of the town have brought tourists. The town is a district headquarters. Its hospital draws patients from many parts of the region. Funguni Secondary School is in Pangani Town and Boza Secondary School is a short distance north.
Bagamoyo was another major slave trading post in East Africa. Bagamoyo, which literally means “Lay down your heart” in Swahili, was probably given this name because it was the last place where the slaves stayed in Tanzania before they were taken to foreign lands.
The town is 80 km north of Dar-Es-Salaam. Bagamoyo is not a busy port anymore, but rather a touring place where one can go for holidays and stay in a quiet Resort Hotel, moving around the town, enjoy the white sand beach and listen to the history of old Bagamoyo town from historians and non-historians.
Bagamoyo Art College: The College accommodates students from all over the world who come and learn the African culture. Traditional Tanzanian sculpture, carving and painting are some of the things to be explored in this historical place. If interested, and you should, arrangement for traditional dance at the college during the tour will be made.
Bagamoyo cultural heritage – The Kaole Ruins: Arabs were the first explorers to arrive in Bagamoyo in the thirteenth century followed by Germans. In southern Bagamoyo at Kaole, Arabs built two Mosques. This Place is now known as KAOLE RUINS. The two old mosques and several tombs remain to be a symbol of Islamic religion. All the architectures in Kaole are built in Coral stone.
Bagamoyo cultural heritage – The Hanging Place: It was in this site the Germans executed Africans who rebelled against their government in the late eighteenth century. Most Africans who were hanged attempted to overthrow the German rule. During German colonial rule, Bagamoyo was the capital town of Tanzania before it was changed by British after World War II.
Our competent tour guides will take you and show you many attractive sites but we ardently advise you to see The Roman Catholic Mission: It was built in the late eighteenth century by Germans with the purpose to spread Christianity. The Roman Catholic Mission is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in East and Central Africa.
The remains of Dr. Livingstone, (the old famous missionary to Africa) were preserved in this Church before the burial ceremony which took place in England in 1874. In addition, students studying history, anthropology, culture, traditional music and others visit Bagamoyo for study tours.
Mafia is renowned as an excellent world-class diving destination with some of the richest reefs in the world, The Park covers the Southern part of Mafia Island and includes the inhabited islands of Chole, Juani, Jibondo and Bwejuu and several uninhabited islets and the associated waters.
Mafia Island and its chain of small islets lie approximately 120 km south of Dar es Salaam and 20 km offshore from the eastern extent of the Rufiji is one of the largest delta systems in Africa. To the east of Mafia Island is the Indian Ocean. The main island of Mafia is about 48 km long and 17 km wide at its widest point. Several smaller islands and islets are scattered to the west and south.
Mafia Island marine Park (MIMP) consists of eight small reserves along the Tanzanian coast under the Fisheries (Marine Reserves) Regulations of 1975, two of these are in what is now the Mafia Island marine Park (MIMP), namely Chole Bay and Kitutia Reef.
The marine park area at Mafia Island extends across some 822km2, more than 75% of it below the high water mark. The area hosts an outstanding mosaic of tropical marine habitats including coral reefs, sea grass beds, mangroves and inter-tidal flats. In addition a remnant block of threatened lowland coastal forest survives along the eastern seaboard of the island, roughly half of it within the marine park boundary.
Two species of sea turtle use Mafia’s beaches as nesting grounds and the area has been recognized internationally as a critical site for biodiversity. Several sites of historic ruins lie within the marine park area, some dating back to the C 13th.
Mafia Island’s separation from the mainland and its freedom from industrial development have ensured that its surrounding waters are some of the least contaminated in Tanzania. The marine park area has national importance as one of the few remaining reef complexes within Tanzania’s coastal waters in relatively intact condition.
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