Kitulo Plateau National Park

The Kinga and Wanji peoples farm the highlands surrounding the plateau, working cool volcanic soils that support potatoes, wheat and pyrethrum alongside the maize grown across most of Tanzania. The farming calendar here differs from the rest of the country because of the altitude.

The plateau's local name, Bustani ya Mungu, predates any scientific interest in its flora by generations, and grazing on the high grassland has been part of the region's pastoral system for a very long time. The park's creation in 2005 changed those access patterns, and that history is worth understanding.

Matamba and Chimala are the usual access villages, and community guides from both lead most walks across the plateau. Guiding and portering provide meaningful income in an area with few other opportunities for cash employment.

The descent of the Chimala escarpment road, with its 57 hairpin bends cut into the mountainside, is a minor attraction in its own right and a piece of engineering the region takes some pride in. Drivers from the villages know it far better than any visitor will.

Kitulo was gazetted in 2005 as the first national park in tropical Africa created primarily to protect flora rather than large mammals, and visitors should come understanding that.

The plateau supports around 350 vascular plant species, including 45 varieties of terrestrial orchid, and the flowering display between December and April is the reason to make the journey. Large mammals are scarce, though the adjacent Livingstone Forest holds the kipunji, a monkey new to science as recently as 2005 and found nowhere else on earth.

The plateau and its forest fringes are important for montane and grassland birds, several of them restricted to Tanzania's Southern Highlands.

Denham's bustard, blue swallow, mountain marsh widowbird and the endangered Kipengere seedeater all occur here. The blue swallow in particular draws birders, since Kitulo holds one of its most significant breeding populations.

By Car

The plateau is reached from Mbeya, roughly 100 kilometres away via Chimala and the escarpment road, or via Matamba. Allow three to four hours from Mbeya. A 4×4 is essential and the escarpment road is impassable to ordinary vehicles.

By Air

Mbeya's Songwe Airport has scheduled flights from Dar es Salaam, and the plateau is reached by road from there. There is no airstrip at the park itself.

Rain is heavy from November through April, which is precisely when the plateau flowers. Annual rainfall exceeds 1,300 millimetres, and the wettest months bring sustained cloud that can reduce visibility on the open grassland to a few metres within minutes.

The dry months from June to September are clear, cold and largely bare. Long views open up across the Southern Highlands and walking underfoot is far easier, but the flowers that justify the park's existence are gone.

There is no shelter of any kind on the plateau, no tree cover and no ranger post within reach of most routes, so carry warm and waterproof layers even on a clear morning.

Check the forecast in Mbeya and turn back early if cloud is building on the plateau.

December to April is the only period that makes real sense for a first visit. The wildflower display peaks between January and March, when the grassland is covered in orchids, aster, iris, lily and red-hot poker. Expect heavy rain and thick cloud alongside it.

June to September is dry, clear and cold, with excellent long-distance views and much easier walking. The plateau is largely bare of flowers, so this window suits hikers rather than botanists.

October and November form a shoulder period as the first rains arrive and the earliest flowers begin, which some visitors find the best compromise.

Birders favour the wetter months, when blue swallow are breeding and the Kipengere seedeater is most active.

Whichever season you choose, pack for cold and wet weather. At 2,600 metres this is one of the coldest places in Tanzania, and there is no shelter of any kind once you are out on the open grassland.

The plateau is open, exposed and subject to fast-changing weather, with mist descending quickly and visibility dropping to a few metres. Carry warm and waterproof layers even on a clear morning, and do not walk without a guide.

There are no dangerous large mammals, which makes this one of the safest parks in Tanzania to walk in. The genuine risks are exposure, the escarpment road, and getting lost in cloud on featureless grassland.

At 2,600 metres malaria risk is low on the plateau itself, though prophylaxis is sensible for the journey through the lowlands around Mbeya.

Consult a travel clinic about yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis A and B and tetanus. Cold and wet conditions are the main health concern here rather than tropical disease: pack properly for a temperate mountain rather than for an African savanna. Mbeya has the nearest hospital.