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LODGES & CAMPS IN TANZANIA
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Tanzania & Zanzibar Explorer - 11 days This Tanzania Safari departs every day of the year and can be tailor made t o suit your requirements. On this safari you will visit Lake Manyara National Park, the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Concervation area and the wonderfull Zanzibar. We will arrange all transfers, tours and flights, so you can just sit back and enjoy the scenery. Our expert travel consultants will assit you to experience a safari of a lifetime. This safari combines well with South Africa. detailed itinerary...
Classic Northern Tanzania Safari - 9 days This Tanzania Safari departs every day of the year and can be tailor made to suit your requirements. On this safari you will visit Lake Manyara National Park, the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Concervation area. Let us assist you to plan the dream safari into the wonderfull wilderness areas of Tanzania. This safari combines well with South Africa. detailed itinerary...
Southern Circuit Tanzania Safari - 10 days If you are interested in seeing wildlife off the beaten track, the Southern Circuit Safari is for you. The main highlight of this safari is a Boat Safari, Walking Safari, Night Safari and Day Game drive in a 4X4 Safari vehicle accompanied by professional safari guide..detailed itinerary...
The Ultimate East Africa Safari - 10 days On this camping safari, accompanied by a guide and cook/assistant, you travel in a 4x4 vehicle. You're supplied with insect proof 2,5 m x 2,5m walk-in canvas dome tents, camp beds, mattresses, bedding, table and stools. Lighting is by kerosene lanterns. Guides and cooks are experienced professionals. detailed itinerary...
Tanzania Bush & Beach Safari - 11 days On this camping safari, accompanied by a guide and cook/assistant, you travel in a 4x4 vehicle. You're supplied with insect proof 2,5 m x 2,5m walk-in canvas dome tents, camp beds, mattresses, bedding, table and stools. Lighting is by kerosene lanterns. It is important to note that we offer a quality camping product and not a luxury mobile camp. This safari would appeal to adventurous clients wanting a 'close to nature' experience who are used to camping and fairly basic conditions. detailed itinerary...
Walk on the Wildside Safari - 12 days On this classic mobile safari, you visit Kilimajaro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and the famous Serengeti National Park. detailed itinerary...

GENERAL INFORMATION - TANZANIA

Dar Es Salaam · Zanzibar · Mt. Kilimanjaro NP · Serengeti NP
Ngorongoro Concervation Area · Selous Game Reserve · Pemba

Step out into the vast open plains that dominate much of Tanzania and you suddenly feel very, very small. And so you should. You've just joined one of the largest, wildest animal populations in the world. Wildebeest, monkey, antelope, lion, cheetah, crocodile, gazelle, flamingo - you name them, Tanzania's had great White plunderers shoot them. But these days they use cameras rather than guns. An economically poor country troubled by rowdy neighbours and opportunistic colonial powers, Tanzania offers some of the best wildlife spotting opportunities on the continent. Famous parks such as the Serengeti and Mt Kilimanjaro, or the wonderful crater of Ngorongoro, make many drab towns here well worth the stopover. Then there's the country's very sexy appendage - Zanzibar. One of several islands off Tanzania's coast, this former spice centre simply oozes exotica and scented Persian bath water.

Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam is Tanzania's premier city. The 'Haven of Peace' started life as a fishing village in the mid-19th century when the Sultan of Zanzibar got the urge to turn a creek (now a harbour) into a safe port and trading centre. Now it's a teeming metropolis of 1.5 million people where Arab dhows mingle with huge ocean-going vessels. Like most African cities, there are substantial contrasts between the various parts of the city. But while the busy central streets around the colourful Kariakoo Market and clock tower are a world away from the tree-lined boulevards of the government quarters to the north, there's no evidence of slums. The place is warm and salty with a heady cultural mix and none of the underlying aggro of Nairobi.
Dar's National Museum is next to the Botanical Gardens in the city centre. It features important archeological collections, especially the fossil discoveries of Zinjanthropus (Nutcracker Man), and the sordid history of the Zanzibar slave trade. About 10km (6mi) from the city centre, the Village Museum is also worth a look. It's a living breathing village of authentic dwellings from various parts of Tanzania. Traditional dances are performed here on the weekend. Oyster Bay, a beautiful (for now) stretch of tropical coastline, is the city's nearest beach.
Be aware that finding a place to stay in Dar can be difficult. It's not that there's a lack of hotels, it's just that they always seem to be full - this applies to the cheap, expensive and the in-between. So, whatever you do, don't pass up a vacant room because you don't like the curtains. Take the room and look for something better later. The city is Tanzania's major international arrival point for flights and there are plenty of airline offices here. The TAZARA train line runs between Dar es Salaam and Kapiri Mposhi (Zambia). The main bus station is at Ubungo Dar es Salaam, but buses to most parts of the country leave from a variety of places within the city.

Zanzibar: Ah, Zanzibar...! Trading under the name Spice Island, this paradise off Tanzania's east coast has lured travellers for centuries, some in search of cloves, some in search of slaves and still others in search of an idyllic home. While commonly called Zanzibar, the island's name is actually Unguja, and is part of the Zanzibar archipelago, which also includes Pemba. Zanzibar got engaged to Tanzania relatively recently, after a string of torrid affairs with the Sumerians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, Dutch and English. But it was the Shirazi Persians and the Omani Arabs who stayed to settle and rule - and it's their influence that lingers most strongly.
Zanzibar's Stone Town is one of the most fascinating places on Tanzania's east coast. It's a chaotic, and often crumbling, labyrinthine cluster of winding streets lined with whitewashed coral-rag houses with magnificently carved (but fast vanishing) brass-studded doors. There are endless little shops, bazaars, mosques, courtyards an old fort, two former sultans' palaces, two huge cathedrals, faded colonial mansions, a disused Persian-style public bathhouse and reminders of a once thriving slave trade. Dotted around the island are historical sites such as the ruined Maruhhubi Palace, built in 1882 by Sultan Barghash to house his harem. To take it all in, a 'Spice Tour' is recommended. Plenty of guides are on offer for such tours, which include palace ruins, the Mangapwani Caves, and various spice and fruit plantations at the island's heart. There's also Jozani Forest, 24km (15mi) south-east of Zanzibar town, a sanctuary for the rare red colobus monkey and the Zanzibar duiker (small antelope).
Air Tanzania operates one daily flight except on Thursday and Sunday in either direction between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, but most budget travellers reach the island by ferry, catamaran or hydrofoil from Dar es Salaam. Dhows and other boats also run between Zanzibar and Kenya's Mombasa, usually once or twice a week in either direction.

Mt Kilimanjaro National Park: An almost perfectly shaped volcano rising sheer from Tanzania's far north-east plains, Mt Kilimanjaro is one of Africa's most magnificent sights. Snowcapped and not yet extinct, at 5895m (19,335ft) it's the highest peak on the continent. From cultivated farmlands on the lower levels, the mountain rises through lush rainforest to alpine meadow and finally across a barren lunar landscape to the twin summits. The rainforest is home to animals including elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard and monkey. You may also stumble across herds of eland on the saddle between the summits of Mawenzi and Kibo. It's a travellers's dream to scale the summit, watch dawn break and gaze out over a truly great expanse of bushland - but scaling a 5895m monolith is no Sunday school picnic. There is a wide range of organized treks along the Marangu trail. For the main trekking route, there are heaps of minibuses every day between Moshi (on the main highway) and the starting point of Marangu.

Serengeti National Park: Serengeti, which sprawls across 14,763 sq km (5757 sq mi), is Tanzania's most famous game park. Here you can get a glimpse of what much of East Africa must have looked like in the days before the 'great White hunters'. The brainless slaughter of the plains animals began in the late 19th century, but more recently, trophy hunters and poachers in search of ivory have added to the sickening toll. On the seemingly endless and almost treeless Serengeti plains are literally millions of hoofed animals. They're constantly on the move in search of grassland and are watched and preyed upon by a varied parade of predators. It's one of the most incredible sights you will ever encounter and the numbers involved are simply mind-boggling. The wildebeest has a starring role in the amazing annual migration. Serengeti is also famous for its lion, cheetah and giraffe populations. Don't forget to bring your binoculars.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area: The views from the 600m (1968ft) tall Ngorongoro Crater rim are spectacular but the real treasure lies on its 20km (12.4mi)-wide floor. It's been compared to Noah's Ark and the Garden of Eden - but has the added advantage of actually existing. Noah might be a bit a disappointed by dwindling animal numbers these days, but he'd have no trouble finding lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and many of the plains herbivores such as wildebeest, Thomson's gazelle, zebra and reedbuck, as well as thousands of flamingo wading in the shallows of Lake Magadi, the soda lake on the floor of the crater. Local Masai tribespeople have grazing rights here, and you may well come across them tending their cattle. You can reach the crater by private bus from Arusha (on the main highway) at least as far as Karatu but it may be difficult to find anything going beyond there. There are also plenty of trucks as far as Karatu.

Selous Game Reserve: This huge, little-visited slab of wilderness is said to be the world's largest game reserve (at 54,600 sq km/21,294 sq mi). Largely untouched by people, estimates suggest it contains the world's largest concentration of elephant, buffalo, crocodile, hippo and hunting dog, as well as plenty of lion, rhino and antelope and thousands of dazzling bird species. One of the reserve's main features is the huge Rufiji River. In the northern end of the reserve is the lodge area of Stiegler's Gorge, which is spanned by a cable car. The most convenient way to get to Selous is to fly direct from Dar es Salaam. By land, there are no buses and hitching is virtually impossible - but the TAZARA line train goes as far as Fuga, on the edge of the reserve.

Pemba: While most travellers do Zanzibar (Unguja), very few make the journey a little farther north to the laid-back island of Pemba, also part of the Zanzibar archipelago. It's not that there are no historic sites to visit, or a lack of good beaches, because there are plenty of these. No, the island is just a bit tricky because there's little public transport off the islands' main road. Jeepneys (jitney bus converted into a jeep) are on the increase however. Pemba's earliest ruins are those of Ras Mkumbu, on the peninsula west of Chake Chake, where the Shirazis settled about 1200 AD. To the east are the remains of a palace destroyed by the Portuguese in 1520. The island's other main attraction are the surrounding coral reefs, rated by many divers as the best in the world. There are flights from Zanzibar to Pemba every Wednesday, and the most reliable boat connections are between Zanzibar and Mkoani on the island's south-west end.