Afrinkong
Nature & LandscapesThe Ngorongoro Crater
A collapsed caldera twenty kilometres across with its own permanent population of thirty thousand animals.
TANZANIA · Tourism
Into the Wild
The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater, the highest mountain in Africa, and a spice island with a thousand-year-old stone town on it.
East AfricaRegion
27Tourism experiences
Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, ZanzibarKnown for
01
Featured destinations
Where the country actually takes you.
Nature & Landscapes
Kilimanjaro, 5,895 m
The highest free-standing mountain on earth: rainforest, moorland, alpine desert and glacier in five days of walking.
Materuni, Under Kilimanjaro
Eighty metres of cold water through Chagga coffee farms on the lower slopes, an easy walk from Moshi.
Photo Hakim Katamba / Pexels
Lakes & RiversManyara and the Rufiji
Flamingo and tree-climbing lions at Manyara; the Rufiji braiding through Nyerere, the largest park in Africa.
Zanzibar, Nungwi to Paje
White sand, warm shallow water and dhows still built by hand on the beach at Nungwi.
Forests & RainforestUdzungwa and Jozani
The Udzungwa scarp holds species found nowhere else; Jozani holds the red colobus, also found nowhere else.
02
Wildlife & safari
What lives here, and how you see it without disturbing it.
Wildlife
The Big Five, and Then Some
Lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, plus the largest elephant herds left in East Africa.
Photo Carlos / Pexels
SafariFollowing the Migration
Calving on the southern plains in February, the Grumeti in June, the Mara river in August — the circuit never stops.
Eco TourismNgorongoro, Shared Ground
The conservation area is the rare model where Maasai pastoralists and wildlife legally use the same land.
Photo Valerie Sutton / Pexels
03
Culture & heritage
The part of a country you cannot photograph from a vehicle.
Culture
Maasai, Chagga, Swahili
Cattle-keepers on the northern plains, coffee farmers on the mountain, and a coast that has always faced east.
Traditional PeopleThe Hadzabe of Lake Eyasi
One of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, speaking a click language unrelated to anything nearby.
Photo Kureng Workx / Pexels
Spice, Ugali, Urojo
Cloves and cardamom from the Zanzibar plantations, grilled seafood at Forodhani, and ugali everywhere else.
Photo Ahmed Bates / Pexels
Sauti za Busara
Four days of live music from across the continent inside the old Arab fort in Stone Town, every February.
Traditional Arts & CraftsTingatinga and Makonde
Enamel-bright Tingatinga painting from Dar es Salaam, and Makonde ebony carving from the southern plateau.
Historic SitesStone Town and Kilwa
Stone Town is UNESCO-listed; Kilwa Kisiwani was the richest port on the Swahili coast six centuries ago.
Photo Salim Kombo / Pexels
HeritageOlduvai and the Coast
Olduvai Gorge holds the earliest human record; the coast holds a thousand years of Indian Ocean trade.
04
Cities & everyday life
Where people actually live between the landmarks.
Dar es Salaam
Harbour of peace: the ferry terminal, the fish market at Kivukoni, and the dhows still working the channel.
The Doors of Stone Town
Brass-studded Indian doors and carved Omani frames, on coral-rag houses in alleys too narrow to drive.
Photo Laura Meinhardt / Pexels
Local LifeDala Dalas and Dhows
Minibuses inland, dhows on the water, and a fish auction at Kivukoni that starts before it is light.
Photo Rangy Tarimu / Pexels
Boma and Coffee Farm
Maasai boma visits on the crater rim road, and Chagga coffee walks on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro.
Photo Balazs Simon / Pexels
05
Adventure & outdoors
For travellers who would rather walk it than watch it.
Adventure
Uhuru Peak by Machame
Six days up the Machame route, one very long night to the summit, and a sunrise you have to earn.
Outdoor ExperiencesSnorkelling Mnemba
The atoll off the northeast tip of Zanzibar, plus kite surfing at Paje and diving at Pemba.
Photo Kenneth Otoo / Pexels
Luxury TravelCamps and Spice Islands
Mobile camps that follow the migration, and beach houses on the Zanzibar east coast with nothing either side.
Photo Ákos Helgert / Pexels
06
Travel inspiration
The frames people come home with.
Acacia, Kopje, Sunset
The Serengeti kopjes at the end of the day, and the migration column stretching past the edge of the frame.
Photo Ana Kenk / Pexels
Ruaha and Katavi
The south and west: huge elephant populations, hippo crowded into shrinking pools, and no other vehicles.
Photo Alex Levis / Pexels
Why Visit This Country
Mountain, Plain and Reef
Summit Africa's highest mountain, cross the Serengeti and sleep on the Indian Ocean, in the same fortnight.
Mountain, Plain and Reef
Summit Africa's highest mountain, cross the Serengeti and sleep on the Indian Ocean, in the same fortnight.
Build a journey