Stock photograph of a beautiful beach and Lake Tanganyika in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, Africa

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Western Tanzania

Western Tanzania is rough, remote frontier land, with vast trackless expanses, minimal infrastructure and few visitors. The west offers a sense of adventure now missing elsewhere in the country. This is precisely what attracts a trickle of travellers, many of whom plan their itineraries around the schedules of the MV Liemba, which sails down Lake Tanganyika, and the Central Line train, which crosses the country.

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Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Katavi National Park, Tanzania Lioness (Panthera leo) resting chin on cub's back - stock photo

    Katavi National Park

    Western Tanzania

    Katavi National Park, 35km southwest of Mpanda, is Tanzania’s third-largest national park (together with two contiguous game reserves the conservation…

  • Chimpanzee, Mahale Mountains, Tanzania. 105334307 africa, chimpanzee, mahale, pan, pan troglodytes, primate, safari, tanzania, troglodytes

    Mahale Mountains National Park

    Western Tanzania

    It’s difficult to imagine a more idyllic combination: clear, blue waters and white-sand beaches backed by lushly forested mountains soaring straight out…

  • Common Chimpanzee - Scientific name - Pan troglodytes schweinfurtii portrait at Kibale Forest National Park, Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda, Africa 762814012 africa, african, ancestor, animal, ape, background, cantanhez, chimp, chimpansee, chimpanzee, congo, east, endangered, evolution, face, forest, gambia, gombe, human, hunting, jungle, kenya, kibale, mahale mountains, mammal, monkey, national, nature, nyungwe, pan, paniscus, park, portrait, research, reserve, rubondo, schweinfurthii, scientific, sitting, species, stream, tanzania, toolmaking, tourism, trekking, troglodytes, uganda, virunga, wild, wildlife

    Gombe National Park

    Western Tanzania

    With an area of only 56 sq km, this is Tanzania’s smallest national park, but its famous primate inhabitants and its connection to Jane Goodall have given…

  • Livingstone’s Tembe

    Livingstone’s Tembe

    Western Tanzania

    This deep-maroon-coloured, flat-roofed Arabic-style home, built in 1857, is the main attraction in these parts. It was Livingstone’s residence for part of…

  • Livingstone Memorial Museum

    Livingstone Memorial Museum

    Western Tanzania

    The site where the immortal words, ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ were uttered by Stanley on meeting Livingstone in 1871 is commemorated by a stark grey…

  • Jakobsen’s (Mwamahunga) Beach

    Jakobsen’s (Mwamahunga) Beach

    Western Tanzania

    Jakobsen's is actually two tiny, beautiful sandy coves below a wooded hillside. The overall setting is idyllic, especially if you visit during the week…

  • Katonga

    Katonga

    Western Tanzania

    This large and colourful fishing village is quite a spectacle when the 200-plus wooden boats pull in with their catch. During the darkest half of the moon…

  • Port

    Port

    Western Tanzania

    Many people find Ujiji’s beach and small dhow port a charming step back into centuries past. They don't use power tools to build the boats, so the…

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