ABOUT TANZANIA

Lying just south of the equator, Tanzania is east Africa largest country and immensely rewarding place to visit. Filling the brochures are several world famous attractions: the planes of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, snow capped Mount Kilimanjaro (African’s highest mountain) and Zanzibar, with its idyllic palm-fringed beaches and historic Stone town. Yet there’s whole lot more to Tanzania than these obvious highlights. Almost  everywhere  you  go you‘ll find interesting wildlife and inspiring landscapes (over forty percent of the country is protected  in some form or other ) ranging from forest –covered volcanic peaks to dusty savanna populated by elephants, antelopes lions, leopards, and cheetahs. Tanzania is one of the four most naturally diverse nations on earth: it contains African’s second –largest number of birds species (around 1500), the continent’s biggest mammal population and three-quarters of East Africa’s plant species (over ten thousand). Add to this the country’s rich ethnic diversity, some superb hiking and other activities like snorkeling and diving, and you have the makings of a holiday of a life time.

For all its natural diversity, Tanzania’s best asset is its people: friendly, welcoming, unassumingly proud and yet reserved –you’ll be treated with uncommon warmth and courtesy wherever you go, and genuine friendship are easily made. The best known tribe are Maasai, the pastoralist cattle-herding people who inhabit the region around the safari parks in the north, yet there are at least 127 tribes in Tanzania, perhaps not as visually colourfully as the red robed, spear-caring Maasai warriors, but with equally reach traditions, histories, customs, beliefs and music, much of which survive despite the ravages of colonialism, modernity and Christianity. For many years, only those with months on their hands had the privilege of really getting to know these people, but since 1995, an award-winning cultural tourism programme has broken new ground in enabling tourist, even those with little time or limited budget, to experience for themselves local life in an intimate and inevitable fascinating way.   

Source: The Rough Guide to Tanzania
www.roughguides.com