Must-see attractions in Southern Highlands

  • Two young elephants from the herd play to test their strength, Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Africa; African Elephant; Animal; Animal Themes; Animal Wildlife; Animals In The Wild; Color Image; Day; Elephant; Fighting; Focus On Foreground; Four Animals; Grass; Horizontal; No People; Outdoors; Photography; Rough Housing; Ruaha National Park; Sunlight; Tanzania; Young Animal;

    Ruaha National Park

    Southern Highlands

    At approximately 22,000 sq km, Ruaha National Park is Tanzania’s largest. It forms the core of a wild and extended ecosystem covering about 40,000 sq km…

  • Famous rock paintings in Iringa from the native people.

    Igeleke Rock Art

    Southern Highlands

    A large prehistoric frieze, similar in style to the Kondoa rock paintings, located at a spectacular site on the edge of town just west of the Dodoma road…

  • Iringa Boma

    Southern Highlands

    This excellent EU-funded museum is a great new development, as is its small cafe and quality gift shop. Located between Uhuru Park and Neema, Boma is…

  • Neema Crafts

    Southern Highlands

    This acclaimed vocational training centre for young deaf and disabled people sits just southeast of the Clock Tower roundabout. Operated by the Anglican…

  • Natural cliff erosion at Isimila Stone Age site in Iringa, Tanzania.

    Isimila Stone Age Site

    Southern Highlands

    Here, in the late 1950s, amid a dramatic landscape of eroded sandstone pillars, archaeologists unearthed one of the most significant Stone Age finds ever…

  • Young elephant bulls in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania.

    Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor

    Southern Highlands

    The Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor ('Ushoroba' in Swahili) joins the Selous Game Reserve with Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve, forming a vast conservation…

  • Impalas, zebras and a marabou in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania.

    Mikumi National Park

    Southern Highlands

    Mikumi is Tanzania’s fourth-largest national park, and the most accessible from Dar es Salaam. With almost guaranteed year-round wildlife sightings, it…

  • Kitulo National Park in Tanzania.

    Kitulo National Park

    Southern Highlands

    This national park protects the flower-clad Kitulo Plateau, together with sections of the former Livingstone Forest Reserve, which runs south from the…

  • Daraja la Mungu (Bridge of God)

    Southern Highlands

    South of Ngozi Peak and west of the main road, this natural bridge 22km west of Tukuyu is estimated to have been formed around 1800 million years ago by…

  • Mbozi Meteorite

    Southern Highlands

    About 65km southwest of Mbeya is the Mbozi meteorite, one of the largest meteorites in the world. Weighing an estimated 25 metric tonnes, it's around 3m…

  • Udzungwa Mountains National Park

    Southern Highlands

    Towering over the Kilombero Plains 350km southwest of Dar es Salaam are the wild, lushly forested slopes of the Udzungwa Mountains, portions of which are…

  • Lake Rukwa

    Southern Highlands

    This large salt lake is notable for its many water birds and its enormous crocodile population. The northern section is part of Rukwa Game Reserve, which…

  • Mbeya Peak

    Southern Highlands

    Just northwest of Mbeya is Mbeya Peak (2820m). It's the highest point in the Mbeya Range and makes an enjoyable day hike, best done by arranging a local…

  • Gangilonga Rock

    Southern Highlands

    This large rock northeast of town is where Chief Mkwawa meditated and where he learned that the Germans were after him. Its name, gangilonga, means …

  • Ismaili Mosque

    Southern Highlands

    This unique German-built mosque is a visual highlight of Iringa's colonial centre – it was built in 1932 but, with its clock tower and arcaded galleries,…

  • Market Area

    Southern Highlands

    Iringa’s atmospheric covered market is piled high with fruit and vegetables, plus other wares, including large-weave, locally made baskets.

  • Kalenga Historical Museum

    Southern Highlands

    This tiny museum in nearby Kalenga – the former Hehe capital – contains the skull, personal effects and other relics of Chief Mkwawa. It was here that he…

  • Maji Maji Museum

    Southern Highlands

    About 1km from the town centre, off the Njombe road, is this small museum commemorating the Maji Maji uprising. Behind it is Chief Songea’s tomb…

  • Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery

    Southern Highlands

    At the eastern edge of town beyond Neema, this tranquil and well-tended cemetery contains the graves of the deceased from both world wars.

  • Maji Maji Uprising Monument

    Southern Highlands

    Next to the police station, this rugged stone obelisk is a memorial to those who died in the Maji Maji Uprising between 1905 and 1907.