The Southern Highlands & the South

The south holds some of East Africa's deepest history. At Isimila near Iringa and Kalambo Falls on the Zambian border, early humans left large numbers of stone tools, and in the Tendaguru hills of Lindi German expeditions dug up dinosaur skeletons that are now in Berlin. On the coast, Kilwa Kisiwani grew from around the 12th century into one of the richest Swahili city-states, controlling the gold trade from Sofala in the south, until the Portuguese sacked it in 1505.

In the 19th century the region was shaken by the Ngoni, who migrated north from southern Africa and settled around Songea, and by the rise of the Hehe under Chief Mkwawa, who ambushed and destroyed a German column at Lugalo near Iringa in 1891. Mkwawa held out until 1898, and his skull, taken to Germany, was returned in 1954. In 1905 the Maji Maji rebellion broke out in the Matumbi hills of Lindi and spread across the south, uniting many peoples against forced cotton growing; the German response of burning crops and villages caused a famine that killed huge numbers.

Under British rule the south was neglected. After independence, the Chinese-built TAZARA railway opened a route to Zambia in the 1970s, and southern Tanzania hosted liberation movements fighting in Mozambique. Gas from the Mtwara coast has been piped to Dar es Salaam since 2015, and since 2020 the Cabo Delgado insurgency has spilled across the Ruvuma River.

The south is home to dozens of peoples. The Hehe of Iringa honour Mkwawa as a national hero, and their neighbours in the highlands include the Bena of Njombe, the Nyakyusa of Mbeya and the shores of Lake Nyasa, and the Safwa. The Ngoni of Songea keep the memory of their southern African origins, while the Matengo of the Mbinga hills are known for their pit-terrace farming. The Fipa live on the Rukwa plateau, and the Luguru of the mountains above Morogoro trace descent through the mother's line.

The Makonde of the Mtwara plateau are famous across Africa for their carving in African blackwood (mpingo), from figures to masks, and for the mapiko masked dance. Along the Lindi and Mtwara coast, Swahili culture and Islam predominate, while the highlands are largely Christian, with Lutheran, Moravian and Catholic missions dating from German times. Initiation ceremonies remain important among many southern peoples.

In Songea the Majimaji Memorial Museum keeps the memory of the war, and the region's history of resistance is a strong source of local pride.

Mbeya, with around 650,000 people, is the largest city of the south and a trading hub on the road and rail routes to Zambia and Malawi. Morogoro, beneath the Uluguru Mountains, is another large city and home to Sokoine University of Agriculture; Iringa, Njombe, Songea, Sumbawanga, Mpanda, Lindi and Mtwara are smaller regional centres.

The Southern Highlands are one of Tanzania's main food baskets, growing maize, potatoes, beans and fruit, with tea estates around Mufindi and Tukuyu and coffee around Mbeya, Mbozi and Mbinga. Njombe grows timber and avocados, and the Kilombero valley produces rice and sugar. The Lindi and Mtwara coast lives from cashews, coconuts, cassava and fishing, and from the offshore gas industry.

The rhythm of life follows the single rainy season, with planting from November and harvests from May. Current issues include land pressure in the fertile highlands, conflict between farmers and herders in the Kilombero and Usangu lowlands, the long-promised development of the gas coast, and insecurity along the Mozambique border.

The Southern Highlands are Tanzania's granary, and meals are hearty: ugali from highland maize, beans, potatoes, cabbage and greens, with beef or chicken on special days. Kyela, by Lake Nyasa, is known for its fragrant rice, and the banana-growing hills around Tukuyu eat plantains boiled, fried and stewed. Fish from Lake Nyasa, dried or fresh, is sold along the shore and up into the hills.

The distinctive drink of Iringa and Njombe is ulanzi, a mildly alcoholic wine tapped from young bamboo shoots in the rainy season and drunk fresh from the roadside. Tea from Mufindi and Tukuyu and arabica coffee from Mbeya and Mbinga are the region's cash crops.

On the southern coast, cashews are the great crop, eaten roasted and salted and exported in bulk, and cooking follows Swahili lines, with coconut, cassava and fish. Morogoro's markets overflow with fruit from the Uluguru slopes, and Mikumi's highway stalls sell roasted maize and grilled meat to passing travellers.

The south's parks are its great prize. Ruaha National Park, one of Tanzania's largest, lies west of Iringa along the Great Ruaha River, known for lions, elephants, greater kudu and baobab-covered hills. Nyerere National Park, created in 2019 from the northern part of the Selous Game Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is explored by boat on the Rufiji River and its lakes as well as by vehicle and on foot. Mikumi National Park, on the main highway west of Morogoro, has open plains with giraffe, zebra and elephants, and next door the Udzungwa Mountains National Park has forest trails, the Sanje waterfall and endemic primates such as the Udzungwa red colobus. Katavi National Park, far to the west, is remote and wild.

In the highlands, Iringa sits on a hilltop with Mkwawa's museum at nearby Kalenga and the Isimila site to the south; around Mbeya are the Ngozi crater lake and the Kitulo Plateau, known for its wild flowers and orchids; and the Mbozi meteorite lies in Songwe. Lake Nyasa, whose border Tanzania and Malawi dispute, has beaches at Matema beneath the Livingstone Mountains and at Mbamba Bay. Kalambo Falls drop into a gorge on the Zambian border.

On the coast, Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara preserve ruined mosques and palaces, and Mikindani, near Mtwara, is a quiet Swahili town where Livingstone stayed in 1866, close to the Mnazi Bay marine park.