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IF YOU LONG FOR ICONIC AFRICA, GO TO TANZANIA
Somewhere in Africa, wildebeest roam and Mount Kilimanjaro shows its snowy summit.
Tanzania is a country of icons, where you can find much of what attracts most travellers to Africa. It is home to mighty Kilimanjaro, to the Serengeti, to the great wildebeest migration. It has Zanzibar’s Indian ocean beaches and Swahili culture.
I believe that is why Tanzania has grown so quickly as a destination.
Yet it is not crowded.
Compare this. Every year (a usual year, not a Covid year) Tanzania gets around 1 million international visitors. France gets 80 million. Paris alone gets 20 times more visitors than the whole of Tanzania.
And Tanzania is a massive country.
Tanzania is where you can still have an off-the-beaten-path experience without looking for it.
I lived in Tanzania once.
I lived in a town called Moshi, which is at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. For most of my time there, the mountain would be covered in cloud, but usually in the mornings or just before sunset, it would reveal itself — the world’s highest freestanding mountain, its snow-capped summit shimmering in the soft golden sun.
Just looking at it made me feel alive.
And so did the dusty streets, the welcoming smiles, the animals that just seemed to be everywhere.
In fact, in certain places they were everywhere.
I remember camping at Ngorongoro. The campsite was full of buffalo, and we had to wait in the vehicle for two hours until the buffalo had moved on so we could pitch the tents.
I remember being in Tarangire and finding an elephant drinking from the camp’s swimming pool. I remember being in a coffee plantation on the slopes of Kilimanjaro walking amid monkeys and coffee beans.
And of course I remember Zanzibar.
Zanzibar is an island off Tanzania, with white beaches, places to relax, great diving. The old city of Stone Town is a wonderfully labyrinthine Arabic-Swahili mix of cultures, where the sounds and smells and sights still feel like what they would have been 500 years ago.
Tanzania is a huge country, a fabulous country, and there’s a lot to see and do.
So I’d like to give you an overview of the different destinations and experiences, so you have some practical information if you want to book a trip.
There are two main ways to get into Tanzania.
Kilimanjaro International Airport is in the north. It’s next to Moshi, and it’s perfectly convenient for Tanzania’s two main attractions.
The number one attraction is Kilimanjaro. Even if you don’t climb it — and it is a tough climb — being in the north, you’ll be able to see it.
The second main attraction in Tanzania is the northern safari circuit. This consists of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire and Lake Manyara.
You’ve probably heard of the Serengeti, and maybe you’ve heard of the Ngorongoro. Tarangire and Lake Manyara are smaller national parks — just as impressive, but very distinct.
And what’s amazing about the northern circuit is that these four destinations are divided by name, but they are one unbroken wilderness.
So you’re able to go on a safari connecting four very different destinations — yet those four destinations provide a wildlife corridor, so you never leave the wilderness.
You get to experience different wildlife, different landscapes. In Manyara you’ve got baboons, the forest, the lake. In Tarangire, you’ve got huge elephant herds. Ngorongoro is a wildlife world inside of volcanic crater. You only need to go for one day — it’s mind-blowing.
Then there’s the Serengeti, the big open plains where you need three days at least to make sense, especially with the great wildebeest migration.
That northern circuit is mostly accessible from Kilimanjaro International and the north of Tanzania.
The other way in is to fly to either Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar. The two are connected by a 20-minute flight — then you’re in the middle of the country, and you can take an adventure in different directions.
Of course, spend time on Zanzibar. A lot of people say, “Go relax in Zanzibar after your safari.” I usually say the opposite. Go to Zanzibar first, relax, explore the culture, get to know what it’s really like in Tanzania, recharge your batteries — and then have all that energy you need for the adventure that is safari.
Dar es Salaam is a big bustling city, and there is not really much there that’s attractive for a visitor. But the good thing about being there is that you can travel in different directions.
Because the northern circuit is not the only safari in Tanzania.
When you travel south, you get to parks like Ruaha, Selous, Mikumi. You get to Tanzania’s big, open, unexplored wilderness areas — where there are no other cars, no other people. Where you wonder when you will ever see another village or person, and when you will be able to go a day without seeing herds of elephant beyond number.
South and central Tanzania are wild, unpopulated.
It’s difficult to get around by road because the roads are in poor condition, but that adds to the adventure.
And if you are not that adventurous, from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar you can catch safari flights, so you don’t need to go 12 or 15 hours by road to get to the parks. You can fly in directly. It’s of course more expensive, but also more convenient.
From these parks in the south, I would not recommend driving the length of Tanzania — unless you have a lot of time, months and months to explore Africa.
Instead, take advantage of the flights and connect a park in the south with the Serengeti or Kilimanjaro International.
If you want to go even further off the beaten track, the west of Tanzania is home to Lake Tanganyika and to some of the biggest troops of chimpanzees. You can go chimpanzee trekking, and it’s a wonderful place for seeing other monkeys as well.
There are also very cultural, intimate, intense experiences you can find in the west of Tanzania. 1% of travelers go there, 90% go to the east.
With all these destinations, how long are you going to have? How much can you do?
That’s really up to you.
What I do like about Tanzania is that you can go for two weeks and have a detailed, complex trip, visiting four, five or six different destinations.
But because of the connection points with the flights it’s also easy to come in for a shorter trip and get the full experience.
You can fly into Kilimanjaro and just do a week with Kilimanjaro. Or fly into Kilimanjaro and spend a week on the northern circuit safari. Maybe fly into Zanzibar and spend a week there.
Travel in Tanzania can truly reflect how much time you have and what you want to do. Mountain safari, beach, culture, history, going far into the wilderness or having something a lot more comfortable. And I haven’t even mentioned an island like Pemba, where you’ll find the world’s first ever underwater suite — where you can literally be in your suite and it’s surrounded by reef. There are many little hidden gems like this, and a lot more.
Tanzania has this alert — you’ll want to come back.
You’ll go once for a week — and you will definitely want to go back, because you will feel you’ve only seen a bit of it.
I feel so privileged that I got to live some time in Tanzania and experience some of it.
And I’m delighted to share this wonderful country with you.
Story by Stephen Bailey. Edited by Beatrice Becker.
Somewhere in Africa, wildebeest roam and Mount Kilimanjaro shows its snowy summit. Tanzania is a country of icons, where you can find much of what attracts most travellers to Africa. It is home to mighty Kilimanjaro, to the Serengeti, to the great wildebeest migration. It has Zanzibar’s Indian...
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