Southern Uvinza District is home to the Mahale Mountains National Park.

During the German colonial period the town was named Neu Gottorp and under their occupation a railway line was built in the 1900s linking it to Dar es Salaam.

The district is home to Mahale Mountains National Park and shares the largest coastline to Lake Tanganyika in Kigoma Region.

In October 2007, it was proposed to build a branch railway to Bujumbura in Burundi junctioning off from there.

[6] It is also served by Uvinza Airport, which is located around 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of the town center.

The airport consists of a single, non-paved airstrip which is approximately 3,000 feet (910 m) long.