Ugalla game reserve is one among the national parks in Tanzania despite being not well known to the majority of people who dare to visit various places such as historical areas as well as national parks. The Ugalla game reserve is located on the Tabora region, west – central part of Tanzania. The total area of the national park covers about 3865 kilometer squares. This area is equivalent to the total of 1, 492.28 square miles.
Ugalla national park is not too older as compared to other famous national parks in the country. It was founded and established recently in 2019. The establishment of this national park was a result of the decision to separate some part of the river purposely to form the national park that was done by the parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania.
There are various wild animals that are found in Ugalla game reserve. This is very common to every national park or game reserve. This is because its area is a spacious landscape being dominated by the Miombo forests. It is also dominated by high grassy savannas that are inhabited by various wild animals such as giraffes, leopards, zebras, elephants and buffaloes. These are just some of the wild animals that are found on the Ugalla game reserve.
The Ugalla game reserve receives moderate rainfall per year as it receives about 600 to 750 mm total average per annum.
There are various attractive features that acts as the driving forces for most of visitors to visit this place. The following are some of the fascinating features that attracts most of visitors to visit it;
The presence of the river; the Ugalla River is a broad and slow moving body of water having sandbacks, oxbow lakes, some shallow pools and some swamps that are winding their way in meandering manner towards western side through the remotest area which is almost the forgotten part of the world but rich and plenty of resources. The Ugalla River is under five thousand (5000) square kilometers in its total area.
The river is the vast landscape having some valleys and shallow hills dominated by the miombo forests and woodlands. It is also decorated with the tall grass savannas which are the great habitats for some wild animals such as buffaloes, zebras, lions, giraffes, leopards, elephants and many others. There are also herds of antelope revolving around the river side which are very rare in Tanzania. In short, there are various wildlife species in the Ugalla River that attracts most visitors to visit the place. Again, a plenty of bird species should not look down.
Presence of various species of birds. There are habitats that keeps bird species alive in the area. For instance, the presence of swamp stretches on the western part of the reserve that have the dwellings for most of the bird species. Also, the swamps attracts the establishment of bird habitats including the construction of nests. Some of the common species of birds are like wattled cranes, shoebill storks, pygmy geese and some many others. These species of birds are mostly located along the Ugalla river side.
Also, it is the best place for game viewing. The Ugalla national park is one of the best places that offers game viewing services to the visitors who dare to visit this national park. The game viewing activities are best conducted during the dry season commonly from July through October. This is the best season since the varieties of animal species concentrate in their herds and groups around the Ugalla River and it becomes one of the best and exciting time to view them.
This is also the best time because it is very simple to see the animals since they covers in every place of the river. The animal species that can be easily experienced during game viewing are like zebras, lions, buffaloes, antelopes, giraffes, leopards, hippos, elephants and the crocodiles that usually bound in the river.
Another interesting and fascinating truth about the Ugalla River is the presence of crocodiles that are said to be the largest species of crocodiles that have been ever recorded in east Africa and Africa at large.
Also, the experience of walking safaris is another exposure to the visitors. The Ugalla game reserve offers walking safari to the visitors who visits it. The walking safaris mainly guided by the experts and experienced tour guides who moves and make the exploration of various wild animals in the national park. The visitors enjoy having exposed to the walking safari and this add value to their Tanzania safari.
Visitors can also get a chance to participate in sport fishing activities. The sport fishing activities are also one of the activities that are done in the park, usually done by visitors and tourists in the river. The experienced fishermen always guides the tourists to use the catch and release method when conducting sport fishing activities since it is one of the activities that visitors can enjoy. The tourists may catch a lot of species of fish and release them in the river.
