Times in Tanzania: Udzungwa National Park: Lumemo Trail

Classic rainforest trail at the beginning of the hike.

Beautiful waterfall.

Ana with a forest backdrop.

Cloud covered mountains greeted us in the morning.

Very green!

View of Mwanihana peak (2080m).

Looking out into the forest.

Classic view of the forest.

Rain was on it's way.

Hiking through the grasses.

With a long winter holiday and a desire to get out of the city, we decided to try to go to one of the lesser visited national parks in Tanzania, the Udzungwa Mountains in the south of Tanzania. We narrowed down our choices by looking at the different places where we could go hiking for extended periods of time and avoid paying outrageous national park fees. It seemed fitting we would choose Udzungwa as it is part of the Eastern Arc mountains, the same chain that contains Kindoroko (1,2 ,3), Minja forests, and Amani Forest Reserve, all of which we have visited.

Udzungwa forest chain is in the southern part of the Eastern Arc mountains. We have previously explored the North Pare and East Usambaras.

After some research, we decided to go for the longest hike we could possibly do in the park. We did a 5 day/4 night trek covering 65 km (40 miles). The trail was called "Lumemo" trail and the ranger told us that usually only two groups a year do it and we were the last group of the year. The trail follows a few rivers as it weaves through tropical rainforest, mountain forest, miombo woodland, grassland and steppe. The rainy season (January-May) makes the trail impassable and they usually do one clearing in June, though the trail is typically constantly overgrown due to lack of use.

During the planning process, the information was a bit unclear so we came with all our food and camping supplies, though we later learned that we could have hired a cook and porters if we would have liked. Still, we were happy as we could keep it relatively cheap as we would end up paying over $500 in park and camping fees anyway. Taking a guide and an armed ranger was compulsory and although we would have preferred to hike alone, both proved invaluable, to say the least.

We were the only ones on the trail and from the first hour, we didn't hear a sound of civilization until five days later. I could go on and on about the beauty of the place but I'll let the pictures do the talking.

If you look at the grass on the left of the river you can see its been trampled by elephants.

Bush-whacking while enjoying the view.

Miombo forest offered a change of landscape.

Walking along the ridgeline.

Descending down.

Beautiful forest!!!

The grass was at times, above our heads.

The river was never far.

Elephants and buffaloes frequented this place high up in the mountains to scratch for minerals.

One of our campsites.

Picture of the tallest peak in the park, Luhombero Peak (2579m)

Ana is not pleased with the elephant skeleton that we saw.

Being a forest, most wildlife was either heard but not seen, or evidence scattered throughout. Aardvark burrows, elephant dung, civet shit, bush pig burrows, and other evidence was scattered among the trails. We even saw a full elephant skeleton! I was shocked to know that elephants lived in the forest habitat and feared "bumping" into one as the dense vegetation was conducive to panic. Although we didn't see any, we did FEEL a group as we passed through a point in the trail. As we passed an area on the trail we stopped at some rustling and heard a trumpeting alarm call, then felt rumbling from elephants no further than 10m from behind us!

We spotted some African buffalo in the river as they bathed and grazed and the armed ranger came in handy when we arrived at one of our campsites and there was a herd of buffalo hanging out in the river. They looked edgy as we tried to scare them with loud noises, so one shot in the air cleared them out. However, the biggest wildlife spotting was of the rare endemic elephant shrew, the grey-faced sengi (Rhynchocyon udzungwensis), discovered only in 2005. The bizarre animal was easily identified by the guide due to its peculiar gait, size, and shape.

There were also a handful of primates that we saw like the black and white colobus (colobus guereza, highland), yellow baboons, and the endemic Iringa red colobus. But the forests here aren't known for their big mammal wildlife, rather they're known for their startling number of endemic species of insects and plants. In fact, 25% of the plant species in the mountains are endemics! The Eastern Arc mountains are known as the "Galapagos islands of Africa" for good reason and I saw more species of bizarre insects than I ever could have imagined.

Overall the experience was unforgettable. It was one of the most physically demanding trips I have ever taken and the worst was finishing a strong day of hiking and reaching camp, only to have to clear space for camp with a machete! The numerous endemic insects and plants also had a field day irritating my skin and I came out bumpy and rashy, but thoroughly refreshed!