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National
Parks and Game Reserves of
Tanzania
 Our
Air Safari, which took place during the 10
days of Christmas, began with a seafood
dinner on the patio at one of my favorite
places, "The Slipway" on Dar es Salaam's
rapidly-changing waterfront. At this
unique shopping mall, now in its third or
fourth stage of development, we were
introduced to the owner
Nicola
Colangelo, an exceptional person and
gracious
host.
Having just completed two weeks of dawn to
dusk sessions at conferences in Zanzibar
and at Dar es Salaam's Golden Tulip Hotel,
the idea of flying on the Coastal Air
Safari circuit had a special appeal.
Another good omen that same day was our
reunion, after five years, with popular
entertainer
King
Kiki,
the Swahili Coast's Louis Armstrong - his
musical beat goes on forever. The Slipway
is a magnet for creative people of all
types, as some of the top local artists
create and display their works on the
broad square facing the harbor.-> ->
-> more
New Website
for Tanzania National Parks:
http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/
The
Tanzania Experience
NATIONAL
PARKS
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Arusha
Gombe
Stream
Katavi
Mount
Kilimanjaro
Kitulo
Plateau
Mahale
Mountains
Lake
Manyara
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Mikumi
Ruaha
Rubondo
Island
Saadani
Serengeti
Tarangire
Udzungwa
Mountains
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Can
any one mental snapshot encapsulate the
Tanzanian experience? Thousands upon
thousands of wildebeest that march in
mindless unison on the annual migration
through the Serengeti, perhaps? Or a
family of elephants wading across the
wide, muddy Rufiji/Tarangire River? What
about a pride of well-fed lions sunbathing
on the grassy floor of the majestic
Ngorongoro Crater? Certainly, it is such
images that tend to spring to mind when
one thinks of Tanzania. And properly
so!
Tanzania,
truly, is a safari destination without
peer. The statistics speak for themselves:
an unparalleled one-quarter of its surface
area has been set aside for conservation
purposes, with the world-renowned
Serengeti National Park and
incomprehensibly vast Selous Game Reserve
heading a rich mosaic of protected areas
that collectively harbour an estimated 20
percent of Africa's large mammal
population.
And
yet there is more to Tanzania than just
safaris. There is Mount Kilimanjaro and
Meru, respectively the highest and
fifth-highest peaks on the continent. And
Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa, the
three largest freshwater bodies in Africa.
Then, of course, there is the magical
'spice island' of Zanzibar, the highlight
of a vast Indian Ocean coastline studded
with postcard-perfect beaches, stunning
offshore diving sites, and mysterious
mediaeval ruins.
It
doesn't stop there.
Rising from the sandy shores of Lake
Tanganyika, the forested Gombe Stream and
Mahale Mountains National Parks vie with
each other as the best place in the world
to track wild chimpanzees. Closer to the
coast, the isolated massifs of the
underpublicised Eastern Arc Mountains have
been dubbed the 'African Galapagos' in
recognition of their wealth of endemic
plants and animals. And Tanzania's
daunting natural variety is mirrored by a
cultural diversity embracing 120 distinct
tribes: from the iconic Maasai
pastoralists of the Rift Valley, to the
Arab-influenced Swahili of the coast, to
the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Lake
Eyasi.
So,
how to define the experience offered by a
country with highlights as unique and
diverse as Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Lake
Tanganyika, Serengeti and Selous? An
experience that might for some entail long
days hiking in sub-zero conditions on the
upper slopes of Africa's most alluring
peaks; for others a once-in-a-lifetime
safari followed by a sojourn on an idyllic
Indian Ocean beach; for others still the
thrill of eyeballing habituated
chimpanzees, or diving in the spectacular
offshore reefs around Mafia, or
backpacking through the time-warped ports
and crumbling ruins of the half-forgotten
south coast?
Well,
the one thing that does bind Tanzania's
diverse attractions is, of course, its
people, who take justifiable pride in
their deeply ingrained national mood of
tolerance and peacefulness. Indeed,
Tanzania, for all its ethnic diversity, is
practically unique in Africa in having
navigated a succession of modern political
hurdles &endash; the transformation from
colonial dependency to independent nation,
from socialist state to free-market
economy, from mono-partyism to
fully-fledged democracy - without ever
experiencing sustained civil or ethnic
unrest.
Tanzania
has also, over the past 20 years, emerged
from comparative obscurity to stand as one
of Africa's most dynamic and popular
travel destinations: a land whose
staggering natural variety is complemented
by the innate hospitality of the people
who live there.
How
to define the Tanzanian experience?
Surprisingly easy, really. It can be
encapsulated in a single word, one that
visitors will hear a dozen times daily, no
matter where they travel in Tanzania, or
how they go about it: the smiling,
heartfelt Swahili greeting of "Karibu!"
&endash;
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