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BAREFOOT SAFARIS & Adventure Tours |
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Discover the Africa of your dreams on a Barefoot Safaris Adventure |
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Tanzania |
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Central African Explorer In the footsteps of Livingstone |
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Website designed and maintained by Nathan Dixey Last updated 28th August 2011 All Photographs © Nathan Dixey 2011 |
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Barefoot Safaris is a Member of the Malawi Tourism Association |
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It would be easy to reduce an introduction to Tanzania to a list of facts and figures. This vast East African country really is a statistician’s dream: within its borders lie Africa’s highest and fifth- highest mountains, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera, Africa’s most famous national park and the world’s largest game reserve, as well as portions of the three most expensive lakes on the continent, one of which is the second- largest fresh water body in the world, another second –deepest. When it comes to world life, Tanzania is practically without peer. An unprecedented 25% of the country is protected in the National Parks and other conservation areas. Together, these support an estimated 20% of Africa’s large mammal population, and one of them plays host to the singular spectacle of an annual migration of some two million wildebeest, Zebra and Gazelle. Further more, Tanzania has recently overtaken Kenya as boasting Africa’s second-longest bird checklist (after the Democratic Republic of Congo), with more than 1,130 bird species recorded, and new endemics being discovered all the time. And as if that were not enough, the three great lakes that lie along Tanzania’s borders vie with each other for the honor of harboring the world’s greatest diversity of fish species. The map of Tanzania may have the statisticians salivating, but it will also touch the Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Selous, Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, Gombe stream, Dar es Salaam, Kilwa, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi, the rift valley, Maassai Stepp……in short Tanzania is the Africa you have always dreamed about: vast plains teeming with wild animals; rainforests alive with cackling birds and monkeys; Kilimanjaro’s snow-capped peak rising dramatically above the scrubland; colorful Maassai herding their cattle alongside herds of grazing wildebeest; perfect palm-lined beaches lapped the clear warm waters of the Indian Ocean stretching as far as the eye can see. Zanzibar is one of those travel magical names, richly evocative even to the many Westerners who would have no idea where to start looking for it on the global map. Steeped in history, and blessed with a sultry tropical climate and multitude of idyllic beaches, Zanzibar is also that rare travel destination which genuinely does live up to every expectation. Whether it’s a quick cultural fix you are after, or scintillating diving, or just a palm-lined beach where you can laze away the day, a few days on Zanzibar is the perfect way to round off a dusty safari on the Tanzanian mainland. A separate state within Tanzania, Zanzibar consists of two large islands, Unguja (Zanzibar Island) and Pemba, plus several smaller islets. Zanzibar Island is about 85Km long and between 20Km and 30Km wide; Pemba is about 75Km long and between 15Km and 20Km wide. Both are flat and low-lying, surrounded by coasts of rocky inlets or sandy beaches. |
