The Ugalla River National Park (''Hifadhi ya Taifa ya Mto Ugalla'', In

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

) is a Tanzanian

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Tabora Region Tabora Region (''Mkoa wa Tabora'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions located in mid-western part of Tanzania. The regional capital is the municipality of Tabora. Tabora is bordered ...

, of west-central

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. The park covers . It is bounded on the south by the Ugalla River.

Etymology

The Ugalla River, which during the dry season is the only source of permanent water for wildlife, inspired the park's name. The river gently meanders westward outside of the national park's boundaries into the intricate network of marshes and rivers known as the Moyowosi Swamps, which finally empty into

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

History and Attractions

The National Park was established in 2019 after the Tanzanian parliament separated part of the Ugalla River Game reserve to form a national park. It is located in the central-western part of Tanzania, in the eastern part of Lake Tanganyika. The whole area is a spacious landscape dominated by Miombo forests and high grassy savannas inhabited by buffaloes, elephants, leopards, giraffes, zebras, etc. The average amount of rainfall is 600–750 mm per annum.

References

National parks of Tanzania Geography of Tabora Region Important Bird Areas of Tanzania {{africa-protected-area-stub