Tanzania

Arusha is Tanzania's gateway to the northern circuit of stellar national parks and the starting point of many a memorable safari. It's also a large, sprawling city with all the contradictions that brings.

The town offers a nice break from the rigours of life on the African road – it has excellent places to stay and eat and, for the most part, it's lush and green and enjoys a temperate climate throughout the year, thanks to its altitude (about 1300m) and its location near the foot of Mt Meru.

Arusha

Strolling through Bagamoyo’s narrow, unpaved streets takes you back to the mid-19th century, when the town was one of the most important settlements along the East African coast and the terminus of the trade caravan route linking Lake Tanganyika with the sea. Slaves, ivory, salt and copra were unloaded here before being shipped to Zanzibar Island and elsewhere, and many European explorers, including Richard Burton, Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone, began and ended their trips here. In 1868 French missionaries established Freedom Village at Bagamoyo as a shelter for ransomed slaves, and for the remainder of the century the town served as a way station for missionaries travelling from Zanzibar Island to the interior. Bagamoyo’s unhurried pace and fascinating history make it an agreeable day or weekend excursion from Dar es Salaam.

Bagamoyo

Central Tanzania lies well off most tourist itineraries, and that's just the way we like it. Exceptional and enigmatic, the Unesco World Heritage–listed Kondoa Rock-Art Sites, scattered across remote hills along the Rift Valley Escarpment, are the region's premier attraction. Not far away, Mt Hanang soars to 3417m and is a worthy climb, both for its own sake and for the chance to summit all by yourself. Both attractions also serve as gateways to the world of the colourful Barabaig and other tribes whose traditional lifestyles remain little touched by the modern world.

And then there's Dodoma, Tanzania’s legislative capital, an intriguing relic of nationalist ambition with interesting architecture and the region’s best facilities. Travel here isn't always easy – transport and accommodation can be a little rough around the edges – but it's a window on a Tanzania few visitors ever get to see.

Central Tanzania

Over the last century, Dar es Salaam has grown from a quiet Zaramo fishing village into a thriving tropical metropolis of over four million people. Straddling some of the most important sea routes in the world, it is East Africa’s second-busiest port and Tanzania’s commercial hub. Despite this, the city has managed to maintain a low-key, down-to-earth feel.

Rimming the central area is Kivukoni Front, with a bustling fish market where dhows dock at dawn to offload the night's catch. Excellent craft markets and restaurants abound, and nearby sandy beaches and islands beckon.

Dar es Salaam’s architecture is a mixture of African, Arab, Indian and German, although much of this is now dwarfed by towering high-rises. Many travellers bypass ‘Dar’ completely; those that linger will encounter the city’s eclectic cultural mix and languid vibe.

Dar es Salaam

Lake Manyara National Park is one of Tanzania’s smaller and most underrated parks. While it may lack the size and variety of other northern-circuit destinations (there's pretty much one main north–south route through the park), its vegetation is diverse, ranging from savannah to marsh to evergreen forest (11 ecosystems in all) and it supports one of the highest biomass densities of large mammals in the world. The chance to see elephant families moving through the forest or Lake Manyara's famous population of tree-climbing lions (although sighting them is becoming increasingly rare) are alone reason enough to come. The dramatic western escarpment of the Rift Valley forms the park’s western border. To the east is the alkaline Lake Manyara, which covers one-third of the park but shrinks considerably in the dry season. During the rains, the lake hosts millions of flamingos and other bird life.

Lake Manyara National Park

Tanzania’s half of Africa’s largest lake sees few visitors, but the region holds many attractions for those with a bent for the offbeat and a desire to immerse themselves in the rhythms of local life beyond the tourist trail. The cities of Musoma and Bukoba have a quiet waterside charm, while most villagers on Ukerewe Island follow a subsistence lifestyle with little connection to the world beyond the shore.

Mwanza, Tanzania’s second-largest city, is appealing in its own way and is the perfect launching pad for a Serengeti–Lake Natron–Ngorongoro loop. Add the forests of idyllic Rubondo Island National Park, deep in the lake’s southwest reaches, for a well-rounded safari experience.

Lake Victoria

This is Tanzania’s fourth-largest national park, with a landscape of baobabs, black hardwood trees and grassy plains, and the most accessible from Dar es Salaam. With almost guaranteed year-round wildlife sightings, Mikumi makes an ideal safari destination for those without much time. Within its 3230 sq km – set between the Uluguru Mountains to the northeast, the Rubeho Mountains to the northwest and the Lumango Mountains to the southeast – Mikumi hosts buffaloes, wildebeest, giraffes, elephants, lions, zebras, leopards, crocodiles and endangered wild dogs, and the chances are high that you’ll see a respectable sampling of these within a short time of entering the park.

Mikumi is an important educational and research centre. Among the various projects being carried out is an ongoing field study of yellow baboons, which is one of just a handful of such long-term primate studies on the continent.

To the south, Mikumi is contiguous with Selous Game Reserve.

Mikumi National Park

The capital of the densely populated Kilimanjaro region sits at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro and makes a good introduction to the splendours of the north. It’s a low-key place with an appealing blend of African and Asian influences and a prosperous feel, due in large part to its being the centre of one of Tanzania’s major coffee-growing regions. Virtually all visitors are here to climb Mt Kilimanjaro or to recover after having done so. Yet there's much more to do, including cultural tours and hikes on the mountain's lower slopes.

Moshi

Whether you come to climb it or simply to gaze in awe at this remarkable, snowcapped equatorial mountain, drawing near to Mt Kilimanjaro is one of the great experiences of African travel. And for once in Tanzania, visiting Mt Kilimanjaro National Park, the protected area that surrounds the mountain, is not about the wildlife. At the heart of the park is the 5896m Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain and one of the continent’s most magnificent sights. It’s also one of the world's highest volcanoes, and the highest free-standing mountain on earth, rising from cultivated farmlands on the lower slopes, through lush rainforest to alpine meadows, and finally across a lunar landscape to the twin summits of Kibo and Mawenzi.

Mt Kilimanjaro National Park

Tanzania’s second-largest city, and the lake region’s economic heart, Mwanza is set on Lake Victoria’s shore, surrounded by hills strewn with enormous boulders. It is notable for its strong Indian influences, as well as for being a major industrial centre and a busy port. Yet despite its rapidly rising skyline, Mwanza manages to retain a casual feel. In addition to being a stop on the way to Rubondo Island National Park, Mwanza is a great starting or finishing point for safaris through Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, ideally as a loop by adding in Lake Natron.

Mwanza

Northeastern Tanzania’s highlights are its coastline, its mountains and its cultures. These, combined with the area’s long history, easy access and lack of crowds, make it an appealing focal point for a Tanzanian sojourn.

Visit the atmospheric ruins at Kaole and Tongoni, step back to the days of Livingstone in Bagamoyo, relax on palm- and baobab-fringed beaches north and south of Pangani, or explore Saadani National Park. Inland, hike forested footpaths in the Usambaras while following the cycle of market days of the local Sambaa people. Learn about the rich traditions of the Pare Mountains, and experience the bush in seldom-visited Mkomazi National Park.

Most of the northeast is within a half-day’s drive or bus ride from both Dar es Salaam and Arusha, and there are good connections to the Zanzibar Archipelago. Main roads are in decent condition and there is a wide range of accommodation.

Northeastern Tanzania

To paraphrase that well-known quote about Africa, those of you who've never been to northern Tanzania are to be envied, because you still have so much to look forward to. Northern Tanzania is a land of superlatives, from Africa's highest mountain to one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the planet. But Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti are mere starting points to so many journeys of a lifetime. Mt Meru is Kilimanjaro's rival in both beauty and the challenge of climbing it, while the Crater Highlands could be Africa's most haunting landscape. When it comes to wildlife, there's Tarangire's baobab-and-elephant kingdom, Lake Manyara's tree-climbing lions and the flamingos of Lake Natron. And venturing down into Ngorongoro's crater can feel like returning to earth's first morning.

But this is also a journey among the Maasai, the Hadzabe and others whose presence here makes this one of Africa's most stirring and soulful destinations.