Usambara Mountains Trekking

The Usambaras rise cool and green above the plains of north-eastern Tanzania — ancient mountains covered in rainforest, tea estates and smallholder farms, with views that drop a thousand metres to the savannah.

Treks here are village-to-village rather than hut-to-hut: you walk quiet footpaths between communities, sleep in local guesthouses and farm stays, and eat with the families who host you.

Highlights include the Irente viewpoint over the Maasai plains, the Magamba rainforest reserve with its black-and-white colobus monkeys, and the long traverse down to the Indian Ocean coast.

Usambara combines easily with a northern circuit safari, Kilimanjaro or a beach stay at Pangani and Zanzibar.