The Udzungwa Mountain Range is the largest section in the Eastern Arc Range and covers over 10,000 Km square. The National Park itself covers 1990 Km square. The highest peak is Luhomero Mountain at 2576m. The park headquarters and Hondo Hondo Lodge are 60Km from Mikumi Town and approximately 360km from Dar Es Salaam.
The base of the mountains was formed by an up fault between 450-650 million years ago as the Rift Valley was formed by a down fault. The mountains are made of a fusion of Archaean granite and Usagaran biotite gneiss.
The forest itself is around 30 million years old dating from the Oligocene epoch. There is a high degree of endemism and both allopatric and sympatric speciation are present. The Eastern Arc as a whole covers just 2% of the land area of Tanzania and yet contains up to 40% of the plant and animal species found in the country.
The word 'Udzungwa' derives from the Wahehe word 'wadzungwa' which means the people who live on the mountains. The Wadzungwa are one of the six sub groups of Wahehe who fort the German colonial rule in the Maji Maji Revolt.
Udzungwa Mountains National Park is the only park in Tanzania gazetted specifically because of its forests. It was formerly composed of forest reserves before being gazetted as a national park in 1992.
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