Southern Highlands

Cool Tanzanian highland region of tea country, Rift escarpments, forested peaks, and Mbeya’s mountain skyline.

The Southern Highlands are one of Tanzania's least-visited regions, and that's part of the appeal. The landscape south of the Great Ruaha is cooler, greener, and more densely forested than the northern plains — wattle and tea plantations around Njombe, dramatic escarpments along the Rift Valley edge, and the highland forests of Udzungwa to the east.

The small city of Mbeya is the main hub, with accommodation at various price points and good connections by bus along the TAZARA corridor. Mbeya Peak, at 2,834 metres, dominates the skyline and rewards a full-day hike through montane forest. From Mbeya you can reach Matema Beach on Lake Malawi — a quiet stretch of freshwater shoreline backed by the Livingstone Mountains that makes a genuine escape from the tourist trail. The Udzungwa National Park is accessible from Mang'ula, further east, and offers serious hiking through endemic-rich highland forest.

This area rewards travellers willing to move at a slower pace and without fixed expectations. Roads off the main highways deteriorate quickly, and local transport is basic.

Guide

Getting There

Mbeya, the main hub of the Southern Highlands, is connected to Dar es Salaam by the TAZARA railway — a 900 km line built with Chinese assistance in the 1970s that remains one of the great long-distance train journeys in Africa. The express train takes around 18–20 hours (when running on time, which it often doesn't). Several bus companies run daily services between Dar es Salaam and Mbeya on the TANZAM highway, taking 12–14 hours.

Mbeya has a small airport with connecting flights to Dar es Salaam. From Mbeya, local buses and shared taxis (daladala) reach most highland towns, though the last stretch to remote places like Matema Beach involves rough tracks best negotiated by 4WD.

Guide

Things to Do

The Southern Highlands reward those who come without a fixed itinerary. The landscape itself is the attraction — volcanic peaks, cool highland plateaus, and forests that shelter chameleons and birds found nowhere else. Mbeya makes a practical base, but the real draws lie in the hills and on the shores of Lake Malawi to the south.