Tanzania Top Destinations

Best time to visit All year-round
Capital Dodoma
Population 67.5 Million
Area 947,403km²

Introducing Tanzania

Tanzania has vast tourist attractions, with an estimated 38% of its land area set aside for conservation. Tanzania boasts 17 national parks,29 game reserves, and 40 controlled conservation areas. Major attractions in the country's northern part include the famous Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site best known for its vast herd of animals, especially Wildebeests, Zebras, and Gazelles.

Overview

Tanzania Safari Experience

Tarangire National Park is home to large herds of elephants and a top destination for birdwatching activities. Lake Manyara National Park is famous for its tree-climbing lions. Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to the vast volcanic Ngorongoro Crater, teeming with the densest wildlife population on earth. In addition to Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, approximately 5,895 meters above sea level, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a perfect hot air balloon safari destination, giving panoramic wildlife and landscape views. Mahale Mountains is a must-visit park, one of Africa's most beautiful parks and a top destination for chimpanzee trekking. Let us not forget the best off-the-beaten-track, including Katavi National Park, home of the lions and the densest concentration of hippos.

Additionally, Tanzania boasts some incredible and stunning white sandy beaches, tropical palm trees and crystal clear turquoise waters, which are warm throughout the year. The beaches stretch from the famous Zanzibar Islands to the remote beaches of Mafia and Pemba islands. Tourists can enjoy various water sports and activities, including kite surfing, deep-sea fishing, snorkelling, and deep-sea diving.

tanzania safari map
serengeti national park

Serengeti National Park

Serengeti’s immense landscape is simply stunning. This big-sky, untamed wilderness is renowned for its grassland plains punctuated with rocky outcrops (koppies) in the southeast. The Western Corridor follows the Grumeti and Mbalageti Rivers with associated riverine forests toward Lake Victoria, while the Lobo Hills area is characterized by big granite boulders reaching up in the sky. Farther north the Mara River sets the scene for the infamous river crossings, the ultimate highlight of the wildebeest migration. Game drives in Serengeti are highly productive. Depending on your program, you can structure the day around two separate game drives (morning and afternoon) or go out for a full day with a picnic lunch. Budget permitting, you could mix it up with a hot-air balloon safari. Who doesn’t want to experience the Serengeti from the sky? After landing, you’ll be treated to a champagne breakfast in the bush. Night drives and guided walks are also offered at some camps and lodges.

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tarangire national park

Tarangire National Park

Tarangire National Park’s main feature is the Tarangire River. Although it gets very dry, the landscape is thickly vegetated with acacia shrubs and mixed woodland. Most memorable are the huge baobab trees dotted around in big numbers. The south of Tarangire is dominated by a vast seasonal swamp network. In the Dry season, herds of up to 300 elephants can be seen digging for underground streams in the dry riverbeds, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, Coke’s hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. Of the big cats, only lion is regularly spotted. There are lots of smaller predators too, such as black-backed jackal and bat-eared fox. Abandoned termite mounds often house dwarf mongoose colonies.

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ngorongoro conservation area

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Ngorongoro crater has a variety of wildlife and bird species. When visiting this unique park, you will see animals everywhere, including predators and prey. Animal species include lions, cheetahs, elephants and buffaloes, rhinos, and leopards. Ngorongoro crater is home to the rare species of black rhino, a threatened species worldwide. Around 20 rhinos live in the protected Ngorongoro Crater area. The rhinos are east of Leria Forest, specifically between Lerai and Gorigor Swamp. The best time to see the rhinos is on an early morning game drive before they scatter to feed. The drive into and out of the crater is a thrilling adventure. For a better experience, we advise booking accommodations at the nearby crater Lodges and camps. The crater’s rim has mind-blowing views and is the quickest to access the crater floor if your budget allows it. Staying close to the crater presents an opportunity to descend at the crater at first light to avoid crowds. Access to the crater is restricted between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to control the amount of traffic entering the park and prevent congestion. During lunch, visit Ngorongoro's popular lunch spots with your picnic basket and enjoy while sitting under a tree at the shores of the lake as you watch a sea of hippos and a dazzle of zebras come in and out of the lake.

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lake manyara national park

Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara National Park has a remarkable variety of habitats in a small area. Most notable is the dense, evergreen groundwater forest featuring ancient mahogany and fig trees. Other habitats include the grassy floodplain, rocky escarpment and acacia woodland, all of which can be covered in a half-day visit. Deeper into the park, a visit to the hot springs (Maji Moto) is recommended. You’ll see a lot of different wildlife quickly on game drives, but there are other ways to get close to nature in the park. On a night drive you’ll have a chance to find creatures that are active at night, and on a canoe safari you might possibly see the big flocks of pink-hued flamingos for which the park is famous. Lake Manyara can also be explored on foot on a walking safari. And if your nerves can take it, the treetop walkway is a must.

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nyerere national park

Nyerere National Park

Nyerere is an important part of the massive cross-country 155,000km²/60,000mi² Greater Selous-Niassa ecosystem. Its main habitat is dense miombo woodland, but the main wildlife-viewing circuit follows a string of five connected lakes fed by the Rufiji, one of Africa’s great rivers. Its palm-fringed channels attract loads of wildlife in the Dry season and its sandbanks are permanently filled with monstrous crocodiles. Nyerere’s unusually diverse range of activities means that it offers arguably the most rounded bush experience of any Tanzanian national park. Game drives are rewarding for predator sightings, while boat trips on the Rufiji River and associated lakes offer utterly compelling water-based wildlife viewing. Guided walking safaris and night drives both add further dimensions to the wilderness experience. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can sleep under the stars on a fly-camping trip.

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katavi national park

Katavi National Park

Katavi National Park is pure wilderness. Few parks anywhere in Africa offer such a tantalizing combination of breathtaking wildlife viewing, a remote setting and low visitor numbers. Four of the Big Five are present, with lion, buffalo and elephant all being very common. Leopard sightings are more hit-and-miss. The waterways of Katavi host impressive concentrations of hippo, crocodile and aquatic birds. The habitat is mainly grassland savannah and miombo woodland in the east of the park. After the rains, the dusty floodplains typical of the Dry season are transformed into lush marshes and shallow lakes.

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ruaha national park

Ruaha National Park

Ruaha National Park is an unspoiled wilderness famed for its large number of elephants. In fact, aside from rhinos, most major safari animals are easily seen here. Large prides of lion, sometimes counting more than 20 individuals, roam the park and even buffalo, an unusual prey, isn't safe here. The main geographical feature of Ruaha’s untamed wilderness is the Great Ruaha River with its sandy tributaries. Away from the river, miombo woodland is interspersed with savannah grassland dotted with ancient baobab trees and rocky outcrops.

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mikumi national park

Mikumi National Park

Underrated Mikumi National Park is known for its open horizons and abundant wildlife, especially across the Serengeti-like expanses of the Mkata Floodplain. The hippo pool and Millennium area are particularly popular, with good reason. The Dar–Ruaha road bisects Mikumi and it can get busy during the Dry season. To escape the crowds, the park’s south has a wild wilderness feel, and is known for its elephants and lions.

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gombe national park

Gombe National Park

Set on the shore of scenic Lake Tanganyika, forested Gombe National Park is one of the best places in Africa to track chimpanzees. Originally habituated by Jane Goodall in the 1960s, the chimps of Gombe now form the subject of the world’s longest-running study of a wild animal population. Observing these fascinating apes, which are our closest living genetic cousins, in the wild is a truly unforgettable experience. Gombe lies on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, which is the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the longest on the planet at 675km/420mi. Within the park, 13 streams run down from the forested escarpment to the sandy beach. Swim out into the lake to look back at how the forested slopes climb the steep Rift Valley escarpment.

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mahale mountains national park

Mahale Mountains National Park

Chimpanzees are the star attraction of Mahale Mountains National Park. The forests of this mountainous park are home to 900 chimps, and trekkers can visit the habituated Mimikere community, which includes about 75 individuals and has been studied by Japanese researchers since the 1960s. Mahale is also notable for its remote location on scenic Lake Tanganyika, the world’s longest contained freshwater body. The park incorporates a chain of wild, jungle-draped peaks towering to almost 2km/1mi above the shore of the azure water of Lake Tanganyika. The geography of this classic Rift Valley lake, with its steep escarpment and white, sandy beaches, is best appreciated on a cruise in a traditional dhow.

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