Tanzania is truly an African safari tour destination without peer. The statistics speak for themselves: an unparalleled one-quarter of its surface area has been set aside for conservation purposes.
From the world-renowned Serengeti National Park and the incomprehensibly vast Nyerere National Park to the tiny Arusha National Park, Tanzania’s wildlife resources represent a rich mosaic of protected areas that collectively harbour an estimated 20 percent of Africa’s large mammal population.
And yet there is more to Tanzania than just safaris. There is Mount Kilimanjaro and Meru, respectively the highest and fifth highest peaks on the continent for mountain climbers, the Udzungwa and Usambara ranges for hikers, Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake), Tanganyika (Africa’s deepest lake) and Nyasa (located along Africa’s Great Rift Valley).
These three largest freshwater bodies in Africa are ideal spots for watersports and fishing enthusiasts.
The magical ‘spice island’ of Zanzibar is gem nestled on the vast Indian Ocean coastline, studded with picture perfect beaches, stunning offshore diving sites, and mysterious mediaeval ruins for the romantic at heart, the history buff and the culture enthusiast.
The Northern Circuit is probably Africa’s most dramatic wildlife area. Game Safaris never fail to satisfy with the thrill of the big game; they also offer diverse flora, panoramic landscapes and spectacular mountains.
The game migrations across the plains defy description. The Serengeti is an ‘Immortal Eden’ where nature reigns – vast endless plains echo with thundering hooves of over two million migrating wildebeest.
Ngorongoro crater heralded as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ is an awe-inspiring caldera; enclosed by sheer walls the crater is breathtaking; this Garden of Eden flourishes with flora and fauna.
The Northern Circuit has other equally exceptional game sanctuaries such as Tarangire National Park, which during the dry season has teeming herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle .
They pass through in search of water; and patiently the predators follow these grazers; Tarangire National Park also boasts many hundreds of bird species.
Lake Manyara National Park where tree-climbing lions sprawl on stout limbs of acacia.
The lovely Arusha National Park nestling against Mount Meru, Lakes Natron and Lake Eyasi are soda lakes that are as fascinating as they are remote and Olduvai Gorge.
The latter is known as the cradle of humankind; so come and let us take you on a safari of a lifetime in Northern Tanzania.
The Southern Circuit is off the beaten track. It is said that Tanzania even now has undiscovered nature secrets.
This is not an exaggeration and the seldom-traveled southern circuit offers safaris that evoke the romance, enchantment and spiritual delight of the African bush.
The Nyerere National Park embraces 54,000 square kilometers of southwestern Tanzania; it is the largest protected wilderness reserve on the continent, three times larger than the Serengeti.
There is also Udzungwa Mountains National Park, which is a park without roads and is Tanzania’s first National Park created primarily to protect flora rather than fauna.
Other parks in Southern Tanzania are Ruaha National Park, Mikumi National Park, Kitulo National Park and the Southern Highlands close to Lake Nyasa.
Chimpanzee trails at Lake Tanganyika along the almost inaccessible Lake Tanganyika – the world’s second deepest lake – lay two exceptional game parks which are home to troops of chimpanzee.
Gombe Stream National Park and Mahale Mountain National Park provide a rare opportunity to observe and study behavior of one of the most interesting area the world has to offer.
Kilimanjaro “As far as you can see, as wide as the whole world and unbelievably white as the sun” This is Kilimanjaro through the eyes of Ernest Hemingway.
At 5895m Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest point and the world’s highest freestanding mountain. Incredibly, the snow-capped peak is only a few hours away from a tropical coastline.
It is fascinating to experience this mountain as it raise majestically above the hazy African plains and trekking to the summit from equatorial Africa to artic conditions; passing through tropical rain forest, moorland, alpine desert onto snow and ice.
Routes for climbing Kilimanjaro are: – Marangu, Rongai, Machame, Mweka, Umbwe and Shira Plateau. Anyone above the age of 12 years, physically fit enough to walk 20 km per day may attempt to climb this mountain.
Zanzibar and Mafia Islands never fails to evoke the exotic, the magic of ancient times, from early explorers and missionaries, to slave traders and colonial rulers.
All this is mirrored in Stone Town and its historical architecture and the rich ethnic mixture of its culture. In the towns’ narrow streets, every sight, every glance conjures up the romantic past.
Beyond Stone Town clad in spice gardens are silver sandy beaches bejeweled by superb resorts.
Zanzibar is a tropical paradise that dreams are made from; pristine beaches, unspoiled reefs, fantastic sport fishing and romantic dhow cruises make Zanzibar the ideal place to relax after your safari.
The scintillating coast crystal seas, sun bleached white sands give Tanzania’s cost a scintillating appearance. The palm fringed coastline look out over the warm turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.
Tranquil coral lagoons shelter underwater coral gardens, boasting some of the best diving in the world; Tanzania and Zanzibar welcome you to explore a diving paradise. Ancient ruins rest among whispering easuarinas and palms enticing you to explore.
Take time to discover the bustling city of Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo an old slave port north of Dar es Salaam: Pangani famous for game fishing at the Pemba Channel and to the south is Kilwa with its fascinating medieval ruins and remote white beaches.
The United Republic of Tanzania (Kiswahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south. To the east it borders the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is a result of the unification of Tanganyika (the mainland) and the Zanzibar islands. Tanganyika and Zanzibar united on 26th April 1964, forming the United Republic of Tanzania.
Tanganyika became independent from the British on December 1961 and Zanzibar became free through a revolution on 12th January 1964.
Mwalimu Julius k. Nyerere – Revolutionary leader and First President of Tanzania Some of the oldest human settlements have been unearthed in Tanzania.
The oldest human fossils were found in and around Olduvai Gorge (Oldupai) in northern Tanzania, an area referred to as “The Cradle of Mankind”. It is believed to be the birth place of humanity.
Fossils found in this area include Paranthropus bones thought to be over 2 million years old, and the oldest known footprints of the immediate ancestors of humans, the Laetoli footprints, estimated to be about 3.6 million years old.
About 10,000 years ago, Tanzania was populated by hunter-gatherer communities who spoke Khoisan. They were joined by Cushitic-speaking people who came from the north about 5000 years ago.
The Khoisan peoples were slowly absorbed. Cushitic peoples introduced basic techniques of agriculture, food production, and later cattle farming.
About 2000 years ago, Bantu speaking people began to arrive from western Africa in a series of migrations. They further developed iron working skills, introduced different ideas of social and political organization.
Later, Nilotic pastoralists arrived, and continued to immigrate into the area through to the 18th century. In the early first Millennium CE, trade with Arabia and Persia made the East African coast economically strong.
As a result Islam was introduced and due to the Arab-centric doctrine of Islam, some Arabic influences entered the language – resulting in the emergence of the Kiswahili language.
The Kiswahili language continued to grow as a result of thriving trade with Arabs, Persians and Indians.
Today’s Kiswahili language is colored with influence from Arabic, Indian and European languages, but a majority of it remains Bantu.
All along the coast, as well as on the islands of the Zanzibar, archipelago, and Kilwa, many trading cities thrived.
Between the 13th and 15th centuries, in a period known as the Shirazi Era, these cities flourished, with trade in ivory, gold and other goods extending as far away as India and China.
The Swahili influence was felt east to the islands of Comoros and Madagascar, as well as west into central Africa, the great lakes kingdoms, and Malawi.
In the early 1300s Ibn Battuta, an international Berber traveler from North Africa, visited Kilwa and proclaimed it one of the best cities in the world. Kilwa was one of the early trading towns in the world to use money.
In 1498 Vasco da Gama became the first European to reach the East African coast, and by 1525 the Portuguese had subdued the entire coast.
Portuguese control lasted until the early 18th century, when Arabs from Oman established a foothold in the region. During this time, Zanzibar became the center for the Arab slave trade.
Due to the Arab and Persian domination at this later time, many Europeans misconstrued the nature of Swahili civilization as a product of Arab colonization.
However, this misunderstanding has begun to dissipate over the past 40 years as Swahili civilization is becoming recognized as principally African in origin.
The port of Zanzibar was visited by Dutch, English and French ships. The British East India Company had a representative in Zanzibar, who acted as an advisor to the Sultan.
In 1873 a British fleet forced Sultan Barghash to declare the end of the slave trade. Although reduced, illegal slave trade continued.
In 1848 the German missionary Johannes Rebmann became the first European to see Mount Kilimanjaro, and in 1858 Richard Burton and John Speke mapped Lake Tanganyika.
In January 1866 the Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone went to Zanzibar, from where he set out to seek the source of the Nile.
After having lost contact with the outside world for years, he was found in the town of Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika on November 10, 1871.
Henry Morton Stanley, who had been sent in a publicity stunt to find him by the New York Herald newspaper greeted him with the now famous words “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”
Marhubi Palace ruins – Home of Omani Sultan in late 1800s on the Zanzibar Islands In 1877 the first of a series of Belgian expeditions arrived in Zanzibar.
In the course of these expeditions, in 1879 a station was founded in Kigoma on the eastern bank of Lake Tanganyika, soon to be followed by the station of Mpala on the opposite western bank.
Both stations were founded in the name of the Comite D’Etudes Du Haut Congo, a predecessor organization of the Congo Free State.
The fact that this station had been established and supplied from Zanzibar and Bagamoyo led to the inclusion of East Africa into the territory of the Conventional Basin of the Congo at the Berlin Conference of 1885.
At the table in Berlin, contrary to widespread perception, rules were established among the colonial powers as how to proceed in the establishment of colonies and protectorates.
While the Belgian interest soon concentrated on the Congo River, the British and Germans focused on Eastern Africa and in 1886 partitioned continental East Africa between themselves; the Sultanate of Zanzibar, now reduced to the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, remained under the Sultan from Oman for the moment.
The Congo Free State was eventually to give up its claim on Kigoma (its oldest station in Central Africa) and on any territory to the east of Lake Tanganyika, to Germany.
Tanganyika as a geographical and political entity did not take shape before the period of High Imperialism; its name only came into use after German East Africa was transferred to the United Kingdom as a mandate by the League of Nations in 1920.
Tanganyika was colonized first by Germans (1880s until 1919) then the British (1919 to 1961). It served as a military outpost during World War II and provided financial help as well as munitions.
Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere became Prime Minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960, and continued as Prime Minister when Tanganyika became independent in 1961.
He went on to become the first president of Tanzania, after the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar on April 26, 1964. Mwalimu J.K. Nyerere introduced African socialism or Ujamaa, which emphasized justice and equality.
Tanzania, located in East Africa, is a land of diverse landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and abundant wildlife.
From the iconic plains of the Serengeti to the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania offers an array of attractions and activities that cater to a wide range of interests.
Whether you’re an adventure seeker, a nature enthusiast, a cultural explorer, or a family looking for an unforgettable vacation, Tanzania has something unique for everyone. Let’s explore the top things to do in Tanzania.
Serengeti National Park is arguably the most famous wildlife sanctuary in the world and a top attraction in Tanzania. The park is renowned for its large population of lions, as well as the annual migration of zebra and wildebeest.
Visitors on Tanzania safaris to the Serengeti can witness stunning landscapes, diverse ecosystems, and a mesmerizing array of wildlife in their natural habitat.
The archipelago of Zanzibar is nestled in the Indian Ocean and is renowned for its pristine beaches, vibrant culture, and historic Stone Town.
Visitors to Zanzibar can explore spice plantations, indulge in water activities such as snorkeling and diving, and immerse themselves in the island’s rich history and Swahili culture.
Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, is a magnet for adventure seekers and outdoor enthusiasts. The mountain offers multiple trekking routes, each with its own unique scenery and challenges, culminating in the breathtaking Uhuru Peak.
Climbing Kilimanjaro is a bucket-list experience that rewards participants with unparalleled vistas and a profound sense of achievement.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a natural amphitheater that shelters an abundance of wildlife, including the densest population of lions in Africa.
The crater is home to an array of ecosystems, providing a captivating setting for game drives and wildlife observation.
Exploring Tanzania goes beyond its natural wonders, as the country boasts a rich tapestry of cultures and traditions.
Engaging in cultural encounters allows visitors to interact with local communities, participate in traditional activities, and gain a deeper understanding of Tanzania’s heritage.
The Tanzanian coastline presents an idyllic setting for relaxation, water sports, and marine exploration.
From the pristine beaches of Pangani to the marine reserves of Mafia Island, the coastline offers a diverse range of experiences, including swimming, snorkeling, diving, and sailing.
Tarangire National Park is celebrated for its large elephant herds and iconic baobab trees, creating a picturesque savanna landscape.
The park provides exceptional game viewing opportunities, birdwatching, and an immersive wilderness experience that showcases the beauty of northern Tanzania.
Mikumi National Park, located in the heart of Tanzania, is a biodiverse wilderness that offers a more off-the-beaten-path safari experience.
The park is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including lions, wildebeest, giraffes, and elephants, set against a backdrop of sweeping grasslands and the scenic Uluguru Mountains.
Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano located in the eastern Rift Valley, offers a unique and challenging trekking experience.
The ascent to the summit provides panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and a chance to witness the volcanic activity of this sacred mountain.
A Tanzania safari is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. From the wild natural landscapes to the magnificent animals that roam the land, Tanzania is a destination for those looking for adventure like no other.
Our tailor-made safaris allow you to enjoy every moment. Get in touch with our travel consultants, they’ll be happy to customize your trip!
If you are looking for Tanzania Safari Tours, there are varieties of safaris to give different tastes differently.
Travellers and visitors come to Tanzania to experience the true wilderness, enjoy the unique flora and fauna, spot the African Big Five, and make their favourite days more special.