Ugalla River National Park
A 3,865-square-kilometre park of river, floodplain and miombo woodland south-west of Tabora, with elephant, buffalo, leopard and giraffe.
Ugalla River was a game reserve for decades and became a national park in 2019. It covers 3,865 km² of the Ugalla river system, where the river spreads into floodplains in the wet season and shrinks to pools in the dry. Elephant, buffalo, leopard, giraffe and large herds of antelope live here, and the birdlife along the river is rich.
The park lies about 100 km south-west of Tabora, reached through Sikonge and Ipole. It is a dry-season destination (roughly June to October), by 4x4 or by charter flight, with no mass tourism: you will have it almost to yourself. Further north-west is Kigosi National Park, also gazetted in 2019. Forest reserves of one kind or another cover close to half of Tabora Region, which is why the honey is so good.
Park information: Tanzania National Parks.
In this section
Livingstone's Tembe
The flat-roofed Arab trader's house at Kwihara where David Livingstone lived in 1871 and Henry Morton Stanley waited out a war.
The German Boma
The fort from which Germany ran central German East Africa, and the prize the Belgians took in 1916.
Tabora Hotel (the Kaiserhof)
Built in German times as a guesthouse fit for the Kaiser, and still a hotel today.
Tabora Railway Station
The 1912 station at the junction of the Central Line, where trains divide for Kigoma, Mwanza and Mpanda.