ZANZIBAR

Zanzibar is the ultimate Indian Ocean experience, with its fascinating historical Stone Town and magnificent beaches.

COMINGTANZANIA aims to reveal more of what's on offer, and contains lots of useful, accurate and up-to-date information for visitors, including accommodation, maps and information on our fine weather.

With COMINGTANZANIA, you can learn more about this island paradise, and plan an unforgettable holiday online. Quality hotels and tour operators are represented in the relevant sections, and with Zanzibar still an unspoilt paradise, this is the best place to see what you're missing out on!

Zanzibar's Indian Ocean offers world class watersports including scuba diving, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, kayaking, windsurfing, waterskiing and sailing on traditional local dhows. 

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STOP WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING AND POACHING

Poaching is the greatest current threat to tigers, rhinos, elephants, gorillas and other African and Asian species. 

It’s a crime and it’s driving species to extinction. Tigers and rhinos are particularly vulnerable, their body parts being prized in traditional Asian medicine. 

The old image of a lone poacher with a rifle, man against beast, is far from the true story nowadays. The current wave of poaching is carried out by sophisticated and well-organised criminal networks – using helicopters, night-vision equipment, tranquilisers and silencers to kill animals at night, avoiding law enforcement patrols.

Why does this continue to happen? The problem is that poaching is rarely a political priority and is a very lucrative business.

“The value of a rhino horn in illegal trade is probably 100 times the average earnings of a villager living next to them,” explains Christy Williams who leads our work on Asian elephants and rhinos. “It makes poaching a coveted money-making opportunity.”

Wildlife is crucial to Tanzania’s economy, as it sustains millions of the country’s rural population. It is also the keystone to the tourism industry—a sector that accounts for about 17% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is the largest source of foreign exchange. The contribution of the country’s wildlife to the economy is largely through “hunting concessions, trophy licenses, export of live animals, and from non-consumptive tourism.”

Tanzania’s wildlife management system reflects this fact.  The country has sixteen national parks that cover an area of over forty-two thousand square kilometers. It has the “largest protected area estate in Africa, both absolutely and relatively.”  About 40% of the country is designated as protected estate.

However, the wildlife management system is not without problems.  For instance, the process of allocating and monitoring hunting concessions is said to be riddled with widespread corruption.  The Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism and top Wildlife Department officials were recently fired for taking bribes in exchange for assigning hunting blocks and allowing over a hundred live animals to be shipped abroad.  Poaching is another, grave problem.  Difficulties in collecting evidence and flaws in the criminal justice system make it challenging to prosecute offenders. 

While various laws govern wildlife conservation, only a few are relevant to the issues of wildlife poaching and trafficking.  The Wildlife Conservation Act (WCA) and the National Parks Act (NPA) as well as their subsidiary legislation are the controlling laws in mainland Tanzania.  In the semiautonomous region of Zanzibar, the governing law appears to be the Forest Resources Management and Conservation Act (FRMCA).

The task of enforcing the controlling laws is equally fragmented.  While the WCA authorizes the establishment of an autonomous body, the Wildlife Authority, to enforce the provisions in mainland Tanzania, the Authority’s reach will not extend to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the national parks.  The task of protecting wildlife resources in the national parks is vested in the Board of Trustees of the Tanzania National Parks, while the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority is tasked with the same role in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.  In addition to the planned Wildlife Authority, which when established will be the main enforcement agency, various other government bodies including the police also enjoy some enforcement authority.  In Zanzibar, the Forest Authority is the primary enforcer of the FRMCA. 

HELP THE GOVERNMENT TO STOP WILDLIFE POACHING 

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MOUNT KILIMANJARO

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MOUNT KILIMANJARO

Kilimanjaro is the world's highest free standing, snow-covered equatorial mountain. Located in North-East of Tanzania.

75,000 people climb Kilimanjaro per year so it is not the most remote mountain, neither is it the most arduous, but it is certainly a test of one’s abilities with altitude sickness being the main reason for climbers not to summit. Although it has become a ‘must-do’ in on most traveller’s lists and the experience slightly busy with other climbers, we still highly recommend it for anyone with a vague interest in mountaineering.

A Towering Life Force
Kilimanjaro represents a powerful life force for the local Chagga people and all those who have made their lives around this mountain, providing rich volcanic soils for agriculture and an endless source of pure spring waters.

Climbing Kilimanjaro
One of the most amazing aspects of the mountain in the present day is the accessibility of its peak to climbers with no mountain climbing equipment or real previous experience of scaling such heights. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain that regular tourists can climb, although it remains a considerable feat of human endurance!

The breathable oxygen at the top is less than half the amount than is common at sea level, and climbers cover at least eighty kilometres on nothing but their own two feet over the five days it takes to reach the top and return.

Preserving the Mountain
The number of climbers has escalated to over a thousand a year during the last century, quite a development since Hans Meyer made history as the first European to scale the highest point of Kilimanjaro in 1889. The increasing numbers each year have made it necessary for the National Park to insist that all climbs are pre-booked, and passes are no longer issued at the last minute at the park gate.

Overall Fitness Required
Although it is possible to simply trek a route to the pinnacle of Kibo without relying on professional climbing equipment, it remains a hard and serious endeavour that requires a level of physical fitness, stamina and a realistic awareness of the potentially damaging effects of high altitudes.

Many tour operators request that clients consult a doctor before attempting to scale the mountain, and have a physical check-up for overall fitness.

Phases of the Climb; First Stage,Tropical Forest
With most of the old lowland forest now cultivated and settled, the first experience of the mountain environment begins with the dense vegetation of tropical montane forest between 1850m and around 2800m.

Cloud condensation mainly gathers around the forest, so this area is usually damp or drenched with rainfall, creating an intriguing mass of plant life and running rivers between endemic tree species. The area of heath just beyond the tree line also enjoys a relatively misty and damp environment as cloud clings around the density of trees. This is covered with heather and shrubs such as Erica Arborea and Stoebe Kilimandsharica, and a number of dramatic looking Proteas.

Open Moorland
From around 3,200m a wide expanse of moorland extends beyond the heath and the cloud line, so that here the skies are generally clear, making the sunshine intense during the days and the nights cool and clear.

The climbing incline remains gentle, but thinning oxygen provides less fuel to energise the muscles and can dramatically slow the pace of walking. Hardy endemic species of Giant Groundsels (Senecio) and Lobelia (Deckenii) towering up to 4m high thrive in this moorland zone and give the landscape a strangely primeval atmosphere.

Alpine Desert, Sparse Vegetation
Even higher, beyond 4,000m, this sensation intensifies as the landscape develops into a more bizarre alpine desert, with sandy loose earth and intense weather conditions and temperature fluctuations so dramatic that barely any plant species survive other than everlasting flowers, mosses and lichens. Only the odd lichen survives beyond 5000m, after Kibo Huts and beyond the Saddle, where the landscape is predominantly rock and ice fields. Here, climbers experience the final steep push to the summit.

Saddle to Summit
The easterly routes, Marangu, Mweka, Loitokitok and Rongai all converge west of the saddle near Gillmans Point, between the peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo. Kibos crater is roughly circular with an inner cone extending to 5,800m, (100m lower than the summit at Uhuru Peak).

At the centre an inner crater with walls between 12 and 20 m high contains another concentric minor cone, the centre of which falls away into the 360m span of the ash pit. This is the 120 metre deep central core of the volcano, and casts sulphurous boiling smoke from its depths despite the frozen, snowy outskirts.

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TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK

Located slightly off the main safari route, Tarangire National Park is a lovely quiet park in Northern Tanzania that is most famous for its elephant migration, birding and quiet authentic safari atmosphere.  The majority of travellers to the region either miss out Tarangire altogether or venture into the park for a matter of hours leaving parts of Tarangire virtually untouched.  

With a game viewing area that is roughly ten times the size of nearby Manyara and a concentration of game that is exceptional from July through to October, this seasonal Tanzania safari park is a little gem on the Northern safari circuit, especially if you love elephants!

Tarangire is the surprise package on the Northern circuit.  Often overshadowed by the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire has immense concentrations of game in the peak months and a fraction of the visitors that go to any of the other Northern parks.  The game viewing here from July through to October is superb and the atmosphere and habitat is completely different from the other parks.  Tarangire is surprisingly large giving visitors the quietest game viewing environment of all the parks in the region.  The South of Tarangire, is especially quiet, and lodges such as Swala andOlivers Camp are the perfect place to explore this remote area, and to really get away from any other travellers.  Overall, a superb little park that offers great value compared to its neighbours and a seriously good option for getting away from it all.

Tarangire: What Game

During the dry months the concentration of animals around the Tarangire river is almost as diverse and reliable as in the Ngorongoro Crater.  However, the ecosystem here is balanced by a localised migration pattern that is followed by the majority of game that resides in and around the park.  As a result, Tarangire is a park which is superb in season but questionable out of its good months.  Elephants are the main attraction with up to 3,000 in the park during the peak season months.  Peak season also sees good numbers of wildebeest and zebra as well as giraffe, buffalo, Thompson's gazelle, greater and lesser kudu, eland, leopard and cheetah.  The real prizes in the park are dwarf mongoose, oryx and generuk but viewings are very rare. Tarangire is one of Tanzania's finest birding destinations.

 

Tarangire: Activities

The main activity in Tarangire is daytime game driving, however, staying outside the park makes walking and night safari a possibility.  There are no boat safaris on the rivers here but Olivers Camp offers adventurous fly camping trips and very good walking safari.  Both Olivers Camp and Swala have recently started night safari within the park itself.  Ask us for more information as the regulations here seem to change every year!

 

Tarangire: When to go

The game viewing from July though to October is exceptional but for the remainder of the year the majority of game migrates out of the park, onto the floor of the Rift Valley and to the grazing grounds of the Masai steppe.  As a result, we would advise visitors not to expect high concentrations of game in the off season months, but would still recommend travelling here to those who want to avoid the crowds.

 

Tarangire: Where to stay

There are many lodges that surround the border of Tarangire but we have always believed that staying in the park itself is the right choice.  Swala and Olivers Camp are the top end choices in the park, with Olivers offering very good value for money considering the quality of accommodation on offer.  Tarangire Treetops is located outside the park but due to all the rooms being raised into ancient baobab trees, this is without any doubt one of Tanzania's most unique properties. 

 

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Lake Manyara National Park

Stretching for 50km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I had seen in Africa”.

The compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers a virtual microcosm of the Tanzanian safari experience.

From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly along the roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly between the ancient mahogany trees, dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and outsized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy.

Contrasting with the intimacy of the forest is the grassy floodplain and its expansive views eastward, across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Maasai Steppes. Large buffalo, wildebeest and zebra herds congregate on these grassy plains, as do giraffes – some so dark in coloration that they appear to be black from a distance.

Inland of the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland is the favoured haunt of Manyara’s legendary tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of searing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore in the far south of the park.

Manyara provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania’s birdlife. More than 400 species have been recorded, and even a first-time visitor to Africa might reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one day. Highlights include thousands of pink-hued flamingos on their perpetual migration, as well as other large waterbirds such as pelicans, cormorants and storks.

About Lake Manyara National Park
Size: 330 sq km (127 sq miles), of which up to 200 sq km (77 sq miles) is lake when water levels are high.
Location: In northern Tanzania. The entrance gate lies 1.5 hours (126km/80 miles) west of Arusha along a newly surfaced road, close to the ethnically diverse market town of Mto wa Mbu.

Getting there
By road, charter or scheduled flight from Arusha, en route to Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.

What to do
Game drives, night game drives, canoeing when the water levels is sufficiently high.
Cultural tours, picnicking, bush lunch/dinner, mountain bike tours, abseiling and forest walks on the escarpment outside the park.

When to go
Dry season (July-October) for large mammals;
Wet season (November-June) for bird watching, the waterfalls and canoeing.

Accommodation
One luxury treehouse-style camp, public bandas and campsites inside the park.
One luxury tented camp and three lodges perched on the Rift Wall outside the park overlooking the lake.
Several guesthouses and campsites in nearby Mto wa Mbu.

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SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

The Serengeti is Africa's most famous park. Renowned for its incredible concentrations of predators and the Great Migration of two million wildebeest, the Serengeti guarantees an exceptional safari. The endless grassy plains (Serengeti in Maasai) are the richest grazing grounds on the continent, and therefore home to the largest herds and the highest concentrations of predators on the planet.
To focus solely on the Great Migration would be to do the Serengeti a grave injustice. Even taking the Great Migration out of the equation, it can be argued that the Serengeti is nevertheless the finest park in Africa. Vast herds of grazers, huge prides of lion, spectacular expanses of uninterrupted views, wildebeest river crossings, great leopard sightings, good concentrations of cheetah and some of the best camps in Africa - what more could you want! 

The Serengeti is one of those very rare places that has a huge reputation, yet still somehow manages to surpass expectations and take your breath away.  Surrounded by remarkable tribes such as the Masai and Hadzabe, this wider area is also fascinating from a cultural perspective.  In a nutshell, the Serengeti is the mother of all safari parks and the most celebrated wildlife reserve in the world. There is absolutely nowhere else to match it.  Absolutely outstanding!

The Serengeti's Great Migration

Originally created to preserve the path of the Great Migration, the Serengeti and its surrounding reserves cover nearly 30,000 square kilometres. Throughout the year huge herds of wildebeest and zebra move in a clockwise direction around the vast plains, searching for fresh grazing grounds.  For further information on the movement of the herds, have a read of our Great Migration page.  To maximise your chances of viewing the herds, it is crucial to choose the right accommodation for the time of year you are travelling. Witnessing the migration in the Serengeti is really as good as it gets in terms of your Tanzania Safari.

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my Tanzania

Tanzania is home to some of Africa's most famous national parks and the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro rising above the Serengeti. Most visitors will find themselves passing through Dar es Salaam and heading out on safaris and various wildlife viewing adventures. For those who want to take a break and spend some time soaking up the sun, the beautiful beaches of Zanzibar beckon. Off Pemba and Mafia islands is a whole other kind of natural wonder, one most appreciated by the scuba divers and snorkelers who come here from around the world to experience the coral gardens, colorful fish, and crystal clear waters.

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