It is also a staging point for visiting the beautiful Katavi National Park, with its headquarters just 35 km to the south at Sitalike.

As yet all roads into Mpanda (from Sumbawanga, Tabora or Kigoma) remain unsealed and may for brief periods become impassable at the height of the wet season (particularly February–March).

The Tanzanian government has in progress a project to seal a large part of the road north from Sumbawanga.

In 2012 the government completed an upgrade of Mpanda airport to a 2 km sealed runway and a commercial air service has commenced.

Mpanda was made the centre of a new Catholic Diocese in October 2000 and boasts a very fine cathedral with magnificent pictorial windows.