Sumbawanga
Sumbawanga is a city located in western Tanzania.
Sumbawanga is a city located in western Tanzania. It is the capital of Rukwa Region and the municipal seat of Sumbawanga Urban District with postcode number 55100. The district had a population of approximately 303,986 based on the 2022 census. Sumbawanga lies in the territory of the Wafipa Fipa tribe and so many people speak Kifipa, as well as Kiswahili, the most widely used language of Tanzania. The name of the town literally translates as "throw away your witchcraft", thought to be a warning from local spiritual "healers" to any bringing in superstitions and practices relating to spiritual healers from other areas. Until the 1980s approximately, Sumbawanga was a place where many witch doctors were located. Though fewer in numbers, there are still some healers who practice both in town and in the surrounding smaller villages on the plateau. The town has the largest hospital in the region, Rukwa General Hospital, which is government funded, as well as the smaller Dr. Atiman Hospital administrated and run by the Catholic Diocese of Sumbawanga.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Sumbawanga
One place within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Roman Catholic Diocese of Sumbawanga
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sumbawanga is a diocese located in Sumbawanga in the ecclesiastical province of Mbeya in Tanzania.
0 m · diocese of the Catholic Church in Tanzania · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Lake Rukwa. Kalambo Water Falls (on the Zambia border).
From Wikivoyage: Sumbawanga, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Mr Alright Juices & chips (next to Lornzo pub near Rukwa Minimarket).
From Wikivoyage: Sumbawanga, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Sumbawanga
- Stations
- Sumbawanga Airport, 2.1 km
- Mwanza → Sumbawanga622 km · quickest by road, 17h 57m · TSh78,550–105,000
- Arusha → Sumbawanga759 km · quickest by road, 24h 27m · TSh100,000–134,000
- Dar es Salaam → Sumbawanga853 km · quickest by road, 23h 5m · TSh93,600–125,000
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Sumbawanga
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Sumbawanga. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- 01571 km
- 02760 km
- 03797 km
- 04841 km
- 05858 km
If you know how people move in Sumbawanga – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Sumbawanga
- Malangaliward (borough) in the city of Sumbawanga, Tanzania4 km