Tanzania continues to occupy a high position in the list of the world’s leading tourist destinations. The country boasts of having world class tourist icons like Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro (also called the rooftop of Africa), Selous and Zanzibar. Together with these icons Tanzania has ….. world heritage sites. The country is also a home to Africa’s richest ethno-cultural tourism which is derived from over 120 different ethnic groups found in Tanzania. All these culminate together to make Tanzania a unique place in world tourism.
Serengeti National Park
Each year more than six million hooves pound the legendary Serengeti’s endless plains. Triggered by the seasonal rains, more than a million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson’s Gazelle gather to undertake their long trek to new grazing lands. The wildebeest rutting season is a frenzied three week long bout of territorial conquests and mating, followed by survival of the fittest as the 40km long columns plunge through crocodile infested waters on the annual exodus north. Replenishing the species is the brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves a day before the 1,000 km pilgrimage begins again.
Tanzania’s first and most famous park, the Serengeti, is renowned for its wealth of leopard and lion. The vast reaches of the park are a hiding place for the endangered Black Rhino and provide a protected breeding ground for the vulnerable Cheetah, alongside the Serengeti’s thousands of other diverse species, from the 500 varieties of bird to 100 different types of dung beetle.
After the rains, the Serengeti’s magical golden horizon is transformed into an endless green carpet, flecked with wildflowers. The famous plains are interspersed with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, monumental rocky kopjes, and rivers lined with elegant acacia trees.
To search for the at-times elusive wildebeest migration, visit the Serengeti from December to July. To see predators, June to October are the best months. For the best chance of finding the migration, allow a minimum of three days, longer if possible.
Selous National Park
At around 50,000 sq km, the Selous is Africa’s largest game reserve, a wilderness area bigger than Denmark or Switzerland. The Reserve covers more than 5% of Tanzania’s total land area, and is three times larger than the Serengeti. Although slightly off the beaten track of the more well – worn safari circuits, a visit to the Selous offers unforgettable game viewing in almost completely isolated surroundings.
The park supports enormous numbers of wild animals: 200,000 buffalo, 30,000 elephant (more than half the country’s population), and 80,000 wildebeest, as well as one of the healthiest populations of the endangered African Wild Dog. A successful project is underway to nurture the Reserve’s population of black rhino back to health following their depletion by poachers in the 1970s and 80s, and sightings are now possible in the tourist area.
A part of the Reserve’s modern-day area was set aside as a game conservancy as far back as 1905, an area which was expanded and named (after Frederick Courtenay Selous, a 19th century hunter and soldier) in the 1920s. Repeated sleeping sickness epidemics during the 1930s and 1940s meant that the area’s human inhabitants moved out, leaving the Selous to the animals. Today, sleeping sickness is a thing of the distant past, but the Selous is still an uninhabited, untamed slice of ‘Old Africa’. In 1982, the Reserve’s unique ecosystem was recognised internationally and the area designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.
The greater part of the northern sector of the Selous is earmarked for photographic tourism, and it is one of the most beautiful and game-rich areas in the whole ecosystem. Three-quarters of the Reserve is woodland of various types, short grassy plains, and seasonally flooded pans. Impressive riverine forests and dense impenetrable thickets are important habitats within the Selous. The wide, meandering Rufiji River is one of the largest water systems in East Africa. With its associated wetlands, lakes and swamps, it is one of the most outstanding ecological systems in the whole of East Africa.
Walking and boat safaris, as well as traditional game drives, are on offer to visitors to the Selous’ small and remote camps and lodges, with little chance of bumping into any sign of human life. Fly camping, or mobile walking safaris, are becoming a popular option for intrepid visitors intent on seeing the best of Africa on foot, unhampered by the closed-in atmosphere of a safari van. Boat trips and longer safaris down the spectacular Rufiji River offer visitors a chance to see hippos, bird life and crocodiles up close. During a game drive or walk one might be lucky enough to see a pack of African wild dogs, disappearing throughout Africa but thriving in the Selous. These complex and fascinating mammals show little fear of vehicles, and it is often possible to observe their intense social life from close proximity. In the tourist area the density of dogs is higher than anywhere else in Africa.
Although the Selous is best known for its spectacular large mammals, it is equally celebrated for its abundant and varied birds. The most conspicuous bird life is to be found around the constantly changing pattern of sandbanks, oxbow lakes, lagoons and channels along the Rufiji River. The river scenery is made all the more spectacular by the groves of Borassus palms, an indigenous species with tall fronds that sway majestically in the African breeze. Ancient baobabs, a tree held sacred by many tribal groups, stand majestically against the far-reaching horizon. Their dead, hollow, leafless trunks provide vantage points for Fish Eagles and nest sites for Egyptian Geese and Dickinson’s Kestrels.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area boasts the finest blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeological sites in Africa. Often called an ‘African Eden’ and the ‘eighth wonder of the natural world’, it is also a pioneering experiment in multiple land use. For Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the idea of multiple land use means to allow humans and wildlife to coexist in a natural setting. Traditional African pastoralists co-operate with Tanzania’s government bodies to help preserve the natural resources of the area and to ensure a fantastic experience for tourists.
The first view of the Ngorongoro Crater takes the breath away. Ngorongoro is a huge caldera (collapsed volcano), 250 sq km in size and 600 m deep. The crater alone has over 20,000 large animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhino. The rhino emerge from the forests in the mists of early morning, and their prehistoric figures make a striking impression, surrounded by the ancient crater walls. No fences or boundaries border the crater walls; animals are free to enter or leave the crater, but many of them stay for the plentiful water and grazing available on the crater floor throughout the year.
Open grassland covers most of the crater floor, turning yellow with wild flowers in June. The Makat soda lake is a great attraction for flamingos and other water birds, while predators hide in the marsh to ambush animals that come to drink from the river that feeds the lake. Also on the crater floor are swamps, providing water and habitat for elephant and hippo as well as numerous smaller creatures such as frogs, snakes and serval cats. Game viewing around Lake Makat is especially rewarding – large antelope like zebra and gazelle come to drink, while herds of hippos sun themselves in the thick lakeshore mud.
The Lerai Forest on the crater floor gets its name from the Maasai word for the elegant yellow-barked acacia tree. Elephants often graze in the forest shade during midday, emerging into the open plains during the early hours of morning and in the evening, as the midday heat abates. The small forest patches on the crater floor are home to leopard, monkey, baboon and antelope such as waterbuck and bushbuck.
Humans and their distant ancestors have been part of Ngorongoro’s landscape for millions of years. The earliest signs of mankind in the Conservation Area are at Laetoli, where hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 million years old. The story continues at Olduvai Gorge, a river canyon cut 100 m deep through the volcanic soil of the Serengeti Plains. Buried in the layers are the remains of animals and hominids that lived and died around a shallow lake amid grassy plains and woodlands. These remains date from two million years ago. Visitors can learn more details of this fascinating story by visiting the site, where guides give a fascinating on-site interpretation of the gorge.
The most numerous and recent inhabitants of the Ngorongoro Area are the Maasai, who arrived about 200 years ago. Their strong insistence on traditional custom and costume interests many visitors. As of today, there are approximately 42,000 Maasai pastoralists living in Ngorongoro with their cattle, goats and sheep. Their presence is the main difference between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Tanzania’s national parks, which do not allow human habitation. Cultural ‘bomas’, or Maasai villages, give visitors the chance to meet Maasai people on their own terms and learn more about this complex and interesting culture
Tarangire National Park
During Tarangire’s dry season, day after day of cloudless skies seem to suck all moisture from the landscape, turning the waving grasses to a platinum blonde, brittle as straw. The Tarangire River is a mere shadow of itself, just a trickle of water choked with wildlife; thirsty antelope and elephant have wandered hundreds of parched kilometres to Tarangire’s permanent water source.
Herds of elephant three hundred strong dig in the damp earth of the riverbed in search of underground springs, while wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, and gazelle mingle with rare species such as eland and oryx around each shrinking lagoon. Python climb into the shade of the trees that line Tarangire’s massive southern swamps and hang there like giant malignant fruit, coils neatly arranged over the branches in a perfect sphere. Tarangire in the dry season enjoys the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem. Tarangire’s huge herds of elephant rival the park’s gigantic, squat baobab trees as its most celebrated feature – ancient matriarchs, feisty young bulls and tiny, stumbling calves are ever present to fascinate visitors with their grace, intelligence and majesty.
The best time to visit Tarangire for wildlife viewing or walking is the dry season, from June to October.
Kilimanjaro
The great mountain of Kilimanjaro is a metaphor for the compelling beauty of East Africa. Rising in absolute isolation, at 5,895m (19,336ft), Kilimanjaro is one of the highest walkable summits on the planet and a beacon for visitors from around the world. Just three degrees south of the equator, Kilimanjaro’s great peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi are nonetheless covered all year round with snow and ice. Most reasonably fit and properly guided climbers can experience the triumph of reaching the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, warm clothing and determination. Those who reach Uhuru Point, the actual summit, or Gillman’s point on the lip of the crater (Kilimanjaro is a dormant, but not extinct, volcano), will have earned their climbing certificates and their memories.
There is, however, so much more to Kilimanjaro than the summit. A journey up the slopes takes visitors on a climatic world tour, from the tropics to the arctic. The grassy and cultivated lower slopes turn into lush rainforest, inhabited by elusive elephant, leopard, buffalo and antelope. Higher still, heath and moorland, covered with giant heather, becomes a surreal alpine desert and, finally, there is ice, snow and the biggest view on the continent.
December to February is the warmest and clearest time to visit, with July to September being colder but also dry. It is wet in the rainforest from April to June and during November.
Arusha National Park
Arusha National Park, often overlooked in favour of its more famous neighbours, is in fact a treasure, a rich tapestry of habitats, teeming with animals and birds. From the lush swamps of the Ngurdoto Crater to the tranquil beauty of the Momela Lakes and the rocky alpine heights of Mt Meru, the terrain of the park is as varied as it is interesting.
Zebras graze on the park’s red grasslands, and leopards lurk next to waterfalls in the shadowy forest. More than 400 species of bird, both migrant and resident, can be found in Arusha National Park alongside rare primates, such as the Black-and-White Colobus Monkey.
The rewarding climb up Mt Meru passes through forests of dripping Spanish moss and rises to open heath, spiked with giant lobelia plants. Delicate Klipspringer antelope watch the progress of hikers from the top of huge boulders, and everlasting flowers cling to the alpine desert underfoot. Once astride the craggy summit, the reward is a sight of neighbouring Mt Kilimanjaro, breathtaking in the sunrise.
The best time to visit Arusha National Park is during the dry season from July to November, or after the short rains from December to March. The best months to climb Mt Meru are June through to February, with the best views of Mt Kilimanjaro seen from December to February. The park lies just 25 km east of Arusha and is a rewarding day trip from Arusha or Moshi.
Ruaha National Park
Ruaha is a park where game viewing can begin the moment the plane touches down. A pair of giraffe may race beside the airstrip, with a line of zebra parading across the runway in their wake as nearby protective elephant mothers guard their young under the shade of a baobab tree.
Wildlife in Ruaha is concentrated along the great Ruaha River that is the park’s lifeblood. The river is a torrent after the rains, dwindling to a few precious pools of water surrounded by a sweep of sand in the dry season. Waterbuck, Impala and the world’s most southerly Grant’s Gizelle risk their lives for a sip of water. The shores of the Ruaha are a permanent hunting ground for lion, leopard, jackal, hyena and the rare and endangered African Wild Dog. Ruaha’s 8000 elephants are recovering strongly from ivory poaching during the 1980s and remain the largest population in East Africa.
Ruaha is the only protected area in which the flora and fauna of eastern and southern Africa overlap, leading to fascinating combinations of wildlife – both Greater and Lesser Kudu live here, as do Sable and Roan Antelope.
