Tanzania's Ruaha Gateway — Iringa sits on a sandstone plateau above a river gorge, Ruaha National Park (Tanzania's largest) starts 120 km north, and the Isimila Stone Age site — 300,000-year-old tools exposed in eroded sandstone pillars — is one of the finest Acheulean archaeological sites in the world
Iringa is the capital of Iringa Region in Tanzania's Southern Highlands — a cool highland town at 1,635 metres serving as the primary base for Ruaha National Park and the Kilombero Valley. Ruaha National Park (120 km north) is Tanzania's largest national park (20,226 km²) with immense elephant herds (10,000+), lion, leopard, wild dog (one of Tanzania's strongest populations), and the rare sable and roan antelope. The Isimila Stone Age Site (22 km southwest) is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in East Africa — a dry lake bed that has exposed some of the finest Acheulean t…
The Hehe people under Chief Mkwawa were one of the most militarily effective opponents of German colonial expansion in East Africa. Mkwawa's Hehe warriors defeated a 350-strong German column at the Battle of Lugalo (1891) — one of the most significant African military victories over a European colonial force in the 19th century. A German campaign destroyed Mkwawa's capital at Kalenga (15 km from Iringa) in 1894; Mkwawa evaded for 4 years before killing himself to avoid capture in 1898. A clause in the Versailles Peace Treaty required Germany to return Mkwawa's skull (taken as a trophy in 1898…