Tanzania

Arusha is a city of northern Tanzania surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks. Beautifully situated below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, it has a pleasant climate and is close to Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Olduvai Gorge, Tarangire National Park, and Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as having its own Arusha National Park on Mount Meru. Arusha is the capital of the Arusha Region.

The streets of this vibrant town are filled with 4x4 game viewing vehicles criss-crossing the potholed roads. Maasai warriors in full regalia walk around, mingling with tourists in crisp khaki, fresh off the plane from Europe or the United States.

Arusha is a pleasant city, due to its moderate weather, location, beautiful countryside and lively music scene. Tanzanian hip-hop is currently popular with the youth market. It is mostly performed in Swahili, with various genres influenced by African American music, locally known as Bongo Flava. A good example of this genre is the band, X Plastaz, singers Nakaaya, Watengwa Waturutumbi etc.

Arusha is home to many of Tanzania's festivals, and the yearly festival is hosted by a few Tanzanian corporate sponsors that attract various artists from around the world. Artists like Shaggy and Ja Rule are just a few of the world's most popular artists to perform in the city of Arusha. Arusha also hosts the annual Arusha Nane Nane Agricultural show. Nane Nane is one of the many vibrant public holidays in Tanzania, held on August 8 (the 8th of the 8th month, nane nane means "eight eight" in Swahili). Nane Nane is marked on August 8 every year where farmers and other stakeholders exchange knowledge and business. It attracts up to a half million people every year.

Arusha is also known for its vibrant night life, with popular local night clubs like Colobus Club and the Blue Triple 'A'.

Arusha National Park

The closest national park to Arusha town – northern Tanzania’s safari capital – Arusha National Park is a multi-faceted jewel, often overlooked by safarigoers, despite offering the opportunity to explore a beguiling diversity of habitats within a few hours.

The entrance gate leads into shadowy montane forest inhabited by inquisitive blue monkeys and colourful turacos and trogons – the only place on the northern safari circuit where the acrobatic black-and-white colobus monkey is easily seen. In the midst of the forest stands the spectacular Ngurdoto Crater, whose steep, rocky cliffs enclose a wide marshy floor dotted with herds of buffalo and warthog.

Further north, rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty of the Momela Lakes, each one a different hue of green or blue. Their shallows sometimes tinged pink with thousands of flamingos, the lakes support a rich selection of resident and migrant waterfowl, and shaggy waterbucks display their large lyre-shaped horns on the watery fringes. Giraffes glide across the grassy hills, between grazing zebra herds, while pairs of wide-eyed dik-dik dart into scrubby bush like overgrown hares on spindly legs. Although elephants are uncommon in Arusha National Park, and lions absent altogether, leopards and spotted hyenas may be seen slinking around in the early morning and late afternoon.

But it is Kilimanjaro’s unassuming cousin, Mount Meru - the fifth highest in Africa at 4,566 metres – that dominates the park’s horizon. Its peaks and eastern footslopes protected within the national park, Meru offers unparalleled views of its famous neighbour, while also forming a rewarding hiking destination in its own right. Passing first through wooded savannah where buffalos and giraffes are frequently encountered, the ascent of Meru leads into forests aflame with red-hot pokers and dripping with Spanish moss, before reaching high open heath spiked with giant lobelias. Everlasting flowers cling to the alpine desert, as delicately-hoofed klipspringers mark the hike’s progress. Astride the craggy summit, Kilimanjaro stands unveiled, blushing in the sunrise.

Arusha Region, Tanzania

Lake Manyara National Park is a beautiful and incredibly diverse park for its size (only 325 square kilometres/125 square miles) and is well known for its tree-climbing lions, elephants and large troops of baboons. The Park is home to an amazing variety of birds and animals and its lush green jungle habitat is of stark contrast to other parks in Tanzania.

At the northernmost aspect, close to the park gates, the forest and woodlands are fed by streams of freshwater flowing through the porous volcanic rock here, but further south, around Msasa River, the volcanic rock gives way to ancient, crystalline rock, creating impressive waterfalls down the Rift Valley escarpment.

Elephant, giraffe, buffalo and wildebeest can be found grazing in unexpected clearings in the woodlands or heading towards water sources to drink or wash. The rivers and riverbeds provide scenic vistas for wildlife watching. Warthog seem to thrive here, growing notably fat and tusked, and it is a natural playground for baboons and monkeys.

Mwanza, Tanzania

The Serengeti National Park is a large national park in Serengeti area, Tanzania. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one million and a half white bearded (or brindled) wildebeest and 200,000 zebra. This phenomenal National Park, created to preserve the path of the world’s largest migration circuit, covers nearly 15,000 square kilometres. The name Serengeti comes from the Maasai name meaning ‘endless plains’, and these rolling distances of short grass plains provide an exceptional landscape for wildlife viewing; it is the ultimate safari country.

This land is famous for its huge concentrations of wildlife, especially the big cats, as well as being the stomping ground of the Great Migration, a massive accumulation of 1.5 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebras and 350,000 gazelles stretching their legs over 1,200 miles in an annual race to find enough water and green grass for their survival.

In the open grass plains during the rainy months from November to May hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and Burchell's zebra congregate. The area is the starting point for one of the great wonders of the world: the Serengeti annual migration. Towards the end of May when the grass becomes dry and exhausted, the wildebeest start to mass in huge armies. All is far from peaceful, for it is the rutting season and each male tries to establish a stamping ground. Eventually, after several dummy runs, the animals begin their trek in a column several miles long to the permanent waters in the north of the Park. After moving westwards, the migration divides by some uncanny instinct, one group turning north-east and the other due north. Once started, little stops the stampede: hundreds often drown at a time in the broad Mara river in the north.

Although outnumbered eight to one, the zebra join in the migration, maintaining their family units of about a dozen members, each with a dominant stallion. Their yelping bark combines with the bleating of the wildebeest to give the typical sound of the migration. Lion, cheetah, hyena and hunting dog follow the wildebeest and zebra, making sure that only the fittest survive. In November, when the grazing is finished in the North, this army of animals surges back to the now green pastures of the south, where they calve and mate before starting the entire cycle again. Normally, the best time to see the animals here is during January and February.

The National Park is broadly divided into three distinct areas, the Seronera Valley and Seronera River, the Western Corridor and the Northern Lobo area that extends northwards through the Lamai Wedge to the Maasai Mara.

Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequalled for its natural beauty and scientific value.

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic center, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site. The name comes from the Arabic zanj meaning "rust" (politically correct equivalent for "black") and al bar meaning "land".

Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia).

Zanzibar's local people are from an incredible mixture of ethnic backgrounds, indicative of its colourful history. Zanzibaris speak Swahili (known locally as Kiswahili), a language which is spoken extensively in East Africa. Many believe that the purest form is spoken in Zanzibar, as it is the birthplace of the language.

Zanzibar's most famous event is the Zanzibar International Film Festival, also known as the Festival of the Dhow Countries. Every July, this event showcases the best of the Swahili Coast arts scene, including Zanzibar's favorite music, Taarab.

Important architectural features in Stone Town are the Livingstone house, The Old dispensary of Zanzibar, the Guliani Bridge, Ngome kongwe (The Old fort of Zanzibar) and the House of Wonders. The town of Kidichi features the Hamamni Persian Baths, built by immigrants from Shiraz, Iran during the reign of Barghash bin Said.

Zanzibar also is the only place in Eastern African countries to have the longest settlement houses formally known as Michenzani flats which were built by the aid from East German during 1970's to solve housing problems in Zanzibar.

Narrow streets of Zanzibar

Stone Town

It may not have a particularly romantic name, but Stone Town is the old city and cultural heart of Zanzibar, little changed in the last 200 years. It is a place of winding alleys, bustling bazaars, mosques and grand Arab houses whose original owners vied with each other over the extravagance of their dwellings. This one-upmanship is particularly reflected in the brass-studded, carved, wooden doors - there are more than 500 different examples of this handiwork. You can spend many idle hours and days just wandering through the fascinating labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways.

As you walk through the town, please remember that Stone Town is very much a real community, where real people live and work. It is not a museum piece or theme park created for tourists, and sensitivity should be shown to the local people.

Most of the houses that can be seen today were built in the 19th century when Zanzibar was one of the most important trading centres in the Indian Ocean region. The coraline rock of Zanzibar was a good building material, but it is also easily eroded. This is evident by the large number of houses that are in a bad state of repair.

If you want to learn more about Stone Town, there are various ways to do it. You can either wander through the narrow streets by yourself armed with a map, or you can embark on a tour with one of the local tour operators. But first, take a look at our list of places to visit in Stone Town.