TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN TANZANIA
Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa. A quarter of its land surface is covered with game reserves. Tanzania acts a big role of the host during the largest annual migration of the wildebeests and other animals like the zebras, this is a must watch while on safari in Tanzania. Apart from the annual migration of the wildebeests, they are other tourist attractions experiences while on safari in Tanzania as listed below;
THE SERENGETI NATIONAL GAME PARK
Serengeti is located in northern Tanzania covering approximately 30000km2,Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language Maa; specifically, “Serengeti” meaning “Endless Plains.” It’s a habitant of various wild animals, come experience wide range sight of the big fives; buffalo, leopards, elephants, rhino, lions. More to experience here while on safari is the second largest terrestrial mammal migration is hosted in the plains of Serengeti, marking it among the seven Natural wonders of Africa.
Serengeti has its natural green environment providing natural beautiful scenery at the same time as a home of so many predators. These habitants include riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands and woodlands. It’s been noted that Serengeti has got about 70 large mammals and 500 bird species like Grey crowned crane, Superb sterling, Masai Ostrich, secretary bird, kori bustards ,lovebirds, eagles. Some of the mammals found here are the gazelles, buffalos, Impala, blue wildebeests and the zebras. It’s also known for harbouring different types of reptiles like numerous Nile crocodiles, honey badger, leopard tortoise, chameleons, African pythons, black mambas, Nile monitors.
Enjoy the game drives in the park. Drive through the parks with a guide to witness different life styles of the wild animals, how they feed and their locomotion.
TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
Tarangire National Park is located in Manyara region Tanzania. It’s the sixth largest national park in Tanzania. It’s a habitant for several wild animals though famous for harbouring elephants in large numbers. There are plenty of lions and leopards too, cheetahs, hyenas.
Several bird species noted around 500 different species, favouring the bird watchers on safari; the ostriches, eagles, lovebirds, babblers, pelicans, nightjars to mention but a few.
In Tarangire, the only national park that carries out night safaris, flying and walking camps boosting your safari more with these activities.
Lake Tarangire is located in the centre of Tarangire national park, carry out a tour to sight the reptiles here like crocodiles and other water animals, hippopotamus. All the animals are able to drink fresh waters during the dry season by the presence of this lake.
NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA
It’s located in the northern Tanzania, 180km west of Arusha in the crater highlands of Tanzania… It’s well known for the big fives; elephant, leopard, buffalo, rhino, lion. There are also plenty of zebras, wildebeests. Not forgetting the many different bird species. While on safari come enjoy the game drives, bird watching, trekking and so many other activities.
Get a view of the crater. It’s the world‘s largest inactive and unfilled crater caldera. The other main water reserve in Ngorongoro is the Ngoitokitok spring which provides water to the animals while other water animals and reptile harbour there like the hippopotamus, lions.
LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK
It’s located 126 sq kilometres west of Arusha region in the Manyara Region hence northern part of Tanzania. The park is about 330 sq kilometres of which 220sq kilometres form a lake when water levels increase during the rainy season, rotating to Tarangire national park which is the closest park through kwakuchinja corridor, this makes these two parks to share wild animals. This national park is famous for the climbing tree lions, besides other animals like the elephants, impalas, giraffes, warthogs, wildebeests, leopards which hide in the forests and bushes. The park is also known for its wide range of the African largest baboons which totals up to 100 in number. Manyara national park is dominated by the ground water forests which grant it changed scenery from the rest of the savannah parks.
Lake Manyara is also known as a soda ash lake with a wide range of flamingos giving beautiful scenery and more excitement to the birdwatchers not forgetting other bird species like pelicans, egrets, stilts erons, soonbills waders and stalks found and feeding in the margins and floodplains, more interesting species like the crowned eagles, crested guinea fowl, silvery cheeked hornbills are found in the ever green forests. Enjoy the comfortable beautiful lodges, trekking and game drives headed by game guides.
MOUNTAIN KILIMANJARO
The Africa‘s highest mountain and the world‘s tallest free standing mountain which is 1830metres above sea level and rises 4065metres giving a total of 5895metres above sea level. It’s located in Tanzania near the border of Kenya.
Kilimanjaro has got a snow caped peak and a volcano’s conical shape, neighbouring the tropical equator which provides great scenery for the travellers on safari. An epic sight while on the savannahs to watch the elephants, Impalas, giraffes and zebras grazing.
Mountain climbing is one of the activities performed on the mountain; Travellers tend to tour the country due to the attraction of the mountain to adventure through the climbs. Back in the 19th century there was no route to the summit but pa now they have been five different routes established to the summits which are; two troutes set from the west, Lemosho and Shira, two set off from south, Machame and Marangu, the last one from the north Rongai.
Hiking on the mountain is yet another exciting adventure while on safari at Kilimanjaro. Adventure the Shira plateau hence its one of the routes to climb up the mountain. Don’t miss out seeing the chala Crater Lake which was formed after the volcano activities. It has different water colours depending on the weather, at times its midnight blue or turquoise blue.
Trekking headed by a tour guide can be awesome. The different routes around the mountain contain different sceneries, different durations and levels. Explore the kibo peak during the trek, the only peak that maintains snow throughout the year, experienced climbers have a chance to adventure here.
MOUNTAIN MERU
While on safari in Arusha National Park, enjoy the sight of Mountain Meru especially for the nature lovers. Mountain Meru is a dormant volcano located in the west of Mount Kilimanjaro. Tourists who enjoy mountain climbing and trekking through the vegetables have a chance to adventure this.
Furthermore about mount Meru in Arusha national Park, the tourists tend to enjoy the hiking and camping on the slopes or the ash cone in the much lower crater, to see much more wildlife, and enjoy the nature of vegetables on the slopes hence nature lovers.
Enjoy the sight of different water reserves in Arusha national park like lake Momella kubwa which is well known for harbouring flamingos, lake Duluti which is a crater lake fun for canoeing, Ngurdoto Crater is surrounded by the forest while the crater floor is a swamp, the mount Meru forest reserve, adventure by hiking through the mount Meru falls surrounded with beautiful green vegetables.
The cultural visits in Arusha national park are part of the adventure to those on tour hence the Ngaramtoni; come here to experience Masaai people with their way of living and culture. The pace offers affordable accommodation to non residents. The Ifulong Cultural Tourism, here the tourists or visitors enjoy the village walks to see and adventure the life style of every day African farmers, the local beer preparations, coffee plantations are seen, visitors are shown all the steps coffee grows, picked during harvest, kept and dried to a finished product.
ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK
This national park covers Mountain Meru which is a prominent volcano and the second highest peak after Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It is a small park with a striking landscape in three well defined areas. In the West, there is te Meru crater funnels, the Jekukumia River; the peak of Mount Meru lying on its rim. In the southwest, there is Ngurdoto Crater which is grasslands. Then in the north east, there are shallow alkaline Momella lakes. These lakes are well known for the algar colours and their wading birds.
Despite Arusha National Park being a small park, it is well known for a rich variety of wild animals like the Giraffes, warthog, blue monkey, elephant, lions, cape buffalos, leopards though on rare sight, black and white colobus monkeys. These animals can all be sighted through the game drives arranged and headed by the tour guides in the Park.
The Bird lovers have a chance to enjoy a wide range of bird life in the forest. Different species of birds like the Narina trogon and the bar-tailed trogon are sighted here.
ZANZIBAR ISLAND
This is the main island in the Tanzanian archipelago Zanzibar. Stone town is an old trade centre with stones and winding lines. Zanzibar is divided into two main islands which are Unguja the larger one and Pemba the smaller. They are several activities that can be done while on safari to Zanzibar like;
Visit the Stone town and Prison Island
The prison island is also known as Changuu Island. This island was used by the Arab to contain the African slaves before shipping them for auctioning in Zanzibar slave trade market. Prison Island is now standing as a shelter for some of the giant tortoises; tourists come and sight these tortoises. Snorkelling is also available here for tourists who are water adventurous.
Sultan’s Palace
Take the Old Fort visit which is located in the Stone town. This is the oldest building in stone town and it has attracted many tourists in the area, it is located on the main seafront, hence stone town is the capital city of Zanzibar. Its courtyard has been made to serve as cultural centre with curio shops selling tourist oriented merchandise such as tingatinga paintings. The place has an open air amphitheatre where dances and music shows take place in the evenings and tourist information desks, large events like the Festival of the Dhow countries are also held here.
It is located in Mizingani Road in stone town on the seafront between the house of wonders and the old dispensary in Zanzibar Tanzania. This palace was built in the 19th century as a home for the sultan’s family. In 1994, it became a museum for the zanzibari royal family and history. The floor of the museum is dedicated to sultan khalifa binHarub, and the second one is dedicated to sayyida salma. This place currently is a tourist attraction in the area.
The house of wonders
This is the largest and tallest building of stone town. It is located between the old Fort and palace Museum and it is a landmark building in stone town. It is one of the six palaces built by Barghash bin Said, second sultan of Zanzibar. This building was built to host ceremonies in the palace and to be the official reception hall, celebrating modernity. This building is called house of wonders because it was the first building to have electricity and the first building in east Africa to have an elevator. The construction materials consisted of an original combination of coral rag, concrete slabs, steel beams, mangrove shoots or boriti. Further in description, the building has a large central covered courtyard surrounded by open galleries; the inner doors are nicely carved with inscriptions from the Quran. The inner courtyard is covered by mtepe which is the traditional Swahili boat; other floors have Swahili fishing tools, traditional ships, ceremonial kangaas, portraits of Zanzibari Sultans and famous zanzibari people includint the portrait of slave traders Tippu Tip. One of the rooms on ground floor hosts an old car that belonged to President Abeid Kaume. The house of wonders currently is the museum of history and culture of Zanzibar and Swahili coast. During a cultural tour, the house of wonders is a must see.
Visit the Forodhani Park
This is a small park in the historical city of Stone town. This park is located along the main sea walk of stone town. Tourists come here especially after sunset and gather in the Main Square enjoying the zanzibari and Swahili cruisine such as seafood’s, sweet potatoes, samoses and cassava. The Aga Khan Trust for culture revitalized the park and restored the face lift of pedestrian walkways, landscape, infrastructure upgrade, civic amenities, and the rehabilitation of the seawall fronting the park.
Visit the Old Dispensary
This is also known as the ithnashiri dispensary, it is located on the sea front in mizingani Road, half way between the palace Museum and the harbour. It served as a dispensary in the first half of the 20th century. Tourists come and see the architecture and art of the building because it is the most finely decorated building in stone town and it is a symbol of different cultural architecture and heritage of the city. The inner part of the building is covered with courtyard and carved bridges connecting to the floor in a beautiful manner, the wooden carved balconies and stained glass decorations are of Indian influence, then its main structure is built with traditional zanzibari coral rag and limestone. The dispensary is one of the tourist attractions in stone town; it also has a small museum storing the history of Zanzibar.
Visit Cheetah‘s Rock
The Cheetah’s Rock is located near Kama village on the West Coast North of the Stone town and South of Nungwi. This is a unique place in Zanzibar where tourists interact with wild animals in a much close manner. The number of guests is limited here so that guests can have a lot more interaction with the animals, taking pictures with them, videos and touching them. Guests tend to learn more about the behaviours of various animal species and about needed protection and conservation of endangered species. Further the tourists will get to know how it is possible to get close to the wild animals using 100% positive reinforcement only animal handling.
Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park
This is the only national park in Zanzibar Island. It is well known for harbouring the Zanzibar red colobus which is also known as kirk red colobus named after Sir John Kirk, the British Resident of Zanzibar. The red colobus is only found in Zanzibar. The park also has different animals like the Sykes monkeys, bush babies, more than 50 species of butterflies, 40 bird species, Aders’ duiker, Zanzibar servaline genet, not forgetting the nocturnal Zanzibar tree hyra, it has four toes on the front feet and three on its back, dolphins, sea fishing, tuna, shark, marlin.
NDZUNGWA NATIONAL PARK
Ndzungwa national park is one of a kind occupied with large forest-swathed mountains. These mountains are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains. This is the second largest biodiversity of national park in Africa. The Park contains variety of habitats including tropical rainforests, miombo woodland, grassland, mountain forest and steppe thus this is not a conventional game viewing destination but while on safari, there are many other things to do in this park like;
Bird and nature watching
The park has more than 400 bird species and 2500 plant species. This favours the nature lovers and bird lovers.
Hiking and trekking
The park being mountainous with no clear roads can only be accessed on foot. Tourists enjoy the trekking. The hiking varies from short hikes of about one hour to six days camping trek the Lumemo Trail. Most tourists tend to take the sanje waterfalls trail in order to get a chance to sight the 170m falls too and carry out swimming as an extra activity. This hike takes approximately 4 hours.
Enjoy the wild life
The park has about six primate species recorded of which five of them are endemic; The Iringa red colobus and sanje crested mangabey are only found in this park. They live in the forest trees.
SELOUS NATIONAL PARK
This game reserve was designated a UNESCO world Heritage Site in 1982 because of its range of different wild life and virgin nature. This is Africa’s largest game reserve, Some of the wild life found here are , East African wild dogs, hippopotamus, black rhino, lion, cape buffalos, Masai giraffes, plains zebras, Nile crocodiles, African bush elephants.
Tourists who come on safari get a chance to see these animals through the game drives guided by the guide to give information and help them spot these animals since majority hide in the grasslands.
Boating
This is the widest diversity of safari activities in the country, it is well known for its boat safaris. These rivers and lakes in Selous Game Park are the lifeblood of the park. These boat cruises enables the tourists to see the Nile crocodiles, the hippopotamus, wild dogs, buffalo and also adventure the lake breeze.
Walking safaris and flying camp trips are other activities done here. On safari, the tourists tend to adventure more of the park through these walks as they thrive through the bushes including covering areas like siwandu, behu behu ,and sand rivers selous, as they are camping along. i.e camping along Rufiji River camp
Bird watching
It has been recorded that Selous national park has got more than 440 bird species. Birding is usually best time during the January and February season since the game migrates to more fertile grounds.
KATAVI NATIONAL PARK
Katavi national park is the oldest National Park located in the katavi region in western Tanzania. It is less visited because it is in a remote area. It is the third largest park in Tanzania and consists of series of seasonal rivers like Ngolema, Katisunga, Katavi and Chada which forms the heart of Katavi’s wild life viewing.
Enjoy the wild life in Katavi hence it harbours animals like the 400 elephants, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, cape buffaloes about 1600, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas, impala, reedbuck, elands, zebras, leopards and lions. Lake Katavi and River Katuma have the largest number of crocodiles and hippopotami, in Tanzania. Some of these water reserves turn into wide floodplains during the dry seasons, like the Katavi, Katisunga and Ngolema, the visitors have a chance to see thousands of crocodiles piled up in these floods, other animals tend to occupy Katuma, Kavu and Kapapa rivers for water in the dry season. Apart from the wild animals and seasonal rivers, the Park is also occupied with isolated wilderness waterfalls, shrub lands woodlands and grasslands. The Park has the least number of visitors and jeeps are used to carry out the game drives.
The park is one of the best for bird watching, it has more than 400 bird species favouring the bird lovers to identify and note the rare species. Some of the birds here are; lilac breasted rollers, paradise, bateleurs, saddle billed stork and African fishing eagle.
The visitors can also enjoy other activities like canoeing safaris on the lake to see more water animals as you enjoy the lake breeze, guided game walks usually performed by the game guides to see and give information about the Park and camping in the Park making the visit more adventurous.
SADAANI NATIONAL PARK
Note that the best time to visit Katavi national park is during the dry season between May and August because roads in the park tend to flood during rainy seasons between October to April.
Sadaani National park is located in the Eastern Coast of Tanzania adjacent to the island of Zanzibar. Sadaani is one of the park which offers both terrestrial and Aquatic tours hence it is both marine and mainland flora and fauna due to the Indian Ocean coastline this gives it a rare beach front on the Indian Ocean. Several activities can be done in this park while on a visit like;
Visit Sadaani and explore the dolphins and green sea turtles at the coast, these are the largest of the hard-shelled sea turtles. The Park is also a home for buffalos, lions and leopards far in the grasslands and forest. The beautiful coral reefs on the coast of the pristine ocean make the Park more attractive to the visitors on safari. The migration in October and November gives an opportunity to the tourists to sight the whales swimming through the Zanzibar channel.
Through the game drives in the Park, the adventurers are able to sight the antelopes, monkeys, giraffes and four of the big 5. Sadaani is a home to the plethora of animal species, the salt tolerant forests act as the feeding and habitant for many bird species, bats, hippos and reptiles.
The park offers exquisite boat cruises on river Wami to adventure the park on water. Enjoy the fresh breeze and beautiful scenery of the park giving a wide range view of wild animals as the bird watchers take a chance to see the different bird species on water and bushes, the amazing sight of blue water of the Indian Ocean.
The visitors can enjoy themselves by relaxing on the beaches, enjoying the white sands while watching the green turtles, the fantastic palm trees giving the place a romantic view. Explore the Swahili fishermen casting their nets with a beautiful sunset in the background.
Enjoy Sadaani Park through the safari walks with the Maasai trackers to learn and adventure the area, snorkelling in the ocean, fishing and the river safaris to see more water birds and animals like hippos and crocodiles these activities spit excitement to the tourists while on safari.
PEMBA ISLAND
Pemba Island is a wonderful island with almost every kind of spices. It is located in Tanzania’s Zanzibar Archipelago, off the coast of East Africa. It is well known for its green grass hills and clove plantations. Its capital city is Chake Chake. They are different tourist attractions in Pemba Island which are;
Visit the Ngezi Forest Reserve
This is a beautiful place to visit, enjoying the tropical rainforest; they are lots of animals and trees, the presence of beaches where the tourists can enjoy swimming and sun bathing.
Tour Pemba flying fox forest
This forest has flying foxes which are bat species known for eating fruits on Pemba Island. Tourists visit this place to sight the bats hence with the help of binoculars; these bats can be spotted in trees since during day time they are dormant, sleeping and hanging in the trees.
Beaches
They are beaches on the island which can be a relaxing area for tourists like the Vumawimbi beach, Kigomasha peninsula, explore the Pemba channel, and visit Mkama Ndume Ruins at Pujini village, Ndagoni Ruins at Ras Mkumbuu.
VISIT MISALI ISLAND
It is surrounded by crystal waters and coral reefs. Snorkelling is easily reached from the beach; sight the nesting turtles on the western side. Looking at the north east of the coast, a baobab beach is seen with fine sand favouring the tourists to relax from there. This is also the best diving area in East Africa.
ZSTC Clove Oil Distillery
This is a place where cloves are turned into essential oils. This is a very enchanting process to watch. It is operated by Zanzibar State Trading Corporation. We also find the cinnamon leaves, lemon grass, sweet basil and eucalyptus leaves. This is a must stop while at Pemba Island.
