Northern Tanzania is world famous for its spectacular scenery and wildlife. The escarpments and volcanoes of the Great Rift Valley form a dramatic backdrop to the game-covered plains below. Snow-capped Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain at 5895m, is a mecca for trekkers and mountaineers.
The region's national parks are a haven for huge concentrations of animals and birdlife. The Serengeti alone has nearly 2 million wildebeest and zebra which migrate along age-old pathways, followed by lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena and jackal. The famous Ngorongoro Crater is a huge volcanic caldera where 25,000 animals live in a setting of unparallelled grandeur. Maasai tribespeople have inhabited this region for hundreds of years, herding their cattle and living in harmony with the wildlife.
Our selection of programs in Tanzania include lodge and tented safaris, tailor-made safaris, fly-in lodges, Kilimanjaro climbs and trekking, and Zanzibar Island beach resorts. To find our more about our range of programs in Tanzania, please download the Tanzania section of our Africa brochure.
Highlights of Tanzania include:
• The wildebeest & zebra migration in the Serengeti
• Olduvai Gorge archaeological site
• Lake Manyara National Park
• Walk with the Maasai or visit an encampment
• Tarangire National Park
• Selous Game Reserve & Ruaha National Park
• Mount Kilimanjaro trekking
• Zanzibar's historic Stone Town and beach resorts
Game viewing
The best time to visit is November to May when the wildebeest migration masses on the Serengeti's southern plains. Feb/Mar is the wildebeest calving. The dry season (Jun to Sep) is the best time to visit Tarangire and the Selous.
Culture
With 120 tribes Tanzania is culturally diverse with peoples as different as the Nilotic Maasai, the Hadza bushmen, the Makonde (famous for their wood carvings), and the Swahili culture of the coast and Zanzibar.
Climate
Much of the Serengeti is over 5,000 ft so temperatures vary between 22°- 29°C. It is generally sunny and windy with rain falling between Nov - May as isolated showers. The low-lying Rift Valley is much hotter (30°-35°C), and the coast is hot and humid. The Ngorongoro Highlands can be cool to cold at night.
