Kitulo National Park, Tanzania: A Comprehensive Guide

The Kitulo Plateau is called ‘Bustani ya Mungu’ – The Garden of God – by local people, while botanists have named it the Serengeti of Flowers, home to ‘one of the great floral spectacles of the world’, and the only one of its kind in Africa where wild flowers, birds and harmonious grass eating mammals are dominant.

Kitulo is certainly a botanical wonder, where wildflowers bloom for six months of the year, from November to April. There are 350 species of wild flower recorded, including lilies and fields of daisies. There are 45 endemic orchid species found solely in the park than any other region of the world. The entire park is foggy from June to August and no visibility is available during the daylight. It is hardly feasible to appreciate its beauties.

At roughly 2,600 meters (8,500 ft) between the steep peaks of the Kipengere, Poroto and Livingstone Mountains, the well-watered volcanic soils of Kitulo support the largest and the most important montane grassland community in Tanzania.

Big game could be scarce but this natural botanical garden is a huge draw for birdwatchers keen to spot the uncommon Denham’s bustard, the endangered blue swallow, mountain marsh widow, Njombe cisticola and Kipengere seedeater.

The ecological wealth of God’s Garden is further enhanced by endemic species of butterfly, chameleon, lizard and frog. This park unique and the only one of its kind in Africa for wild orchids and birds, has been gazetted last year for tourists.

During the day, visitors can enjoy walking safaris across the grasslands looking at birds and natural flowers, and hill hiking on the neighbouring hills which offer a great perspective of Lake Nyasa and its picturesque Matema Beach below the mountains.

Kitulo National Park will be the leading nature conservation park in Africa when fully completed, with more emphasis on orchid trips and fewer animal tours. It will offer another product to Tanzania’s wildlife orientated tourism which has so far been competing with other locations like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Since then its pleasant and moderate weather similar to Mediterranean or European conditions has attracted a number of British and American residents in 1920’ who reared cattle and operated small scale tourist operations.