It is a place of natural wonder. It has been called “The Cradle of Civilization”. It is the only place on earth where the popular gemstone, Tanzanite, can be found. This is Tanzania, and it is, indeed, a special place in the world. It is home to the largest concentration wild animals on earth, home to the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, and home to some of the most warm and welcoming people anywhere. Its economy is built around two things – coffee and tourism. Most of its tourism centers on the safari. The major city, of two and a half million people, is Dar es Salaam, the city of peace.

Tanzania is proud of its care and nourishment of wild animals, and has set aside about one third of its lands for national parks. The Serengeti is the most well-known of these parks. It is huge! As a matter of fact, the name, Serengeti, is a Maasai word meaning endless plain. It is 5,700 square miles in area. Here you will find the largest migration of land animals on earth. In the spring and fall, the wildebeests make their trek to and from Kenya. As far as the eye can see, wildebeest and zebra are on the move. It is a sight to behold! Other animals living in the Serengeti are lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, giraffes, elands, monkeys, hippos, and crocodiles. A very popular thing to do here is to take a balloon ride over the Serengeti early in the morning. Tanzania is very close to the equator, so the days are about equal in length – twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of night. Sunrise and sunset are spectacular here where the sun appears as a huge disk on the horizon.

Traveling in these parks is by way of four-wheel drive vehicles holding about six people. Each vehicle has a convertible or pop-top for easy picture-taking. There are no roads, but there are pathways – many with deep ruts. Drivers are all schooled in the ecology of the area and can talk endlessly about the animals, birds, and flora and fauna.

Each park has many hotels and tented camps. The accommodations are four to five star; comfortable and with good restaurants and, of course, gift shops.

Ngorongoro Crater is really not a crater at all, but a collapsed volcano called a caldera. The walls of the canyon are 2,000 feet high, making it very difficult for any movement of animals. As such, they animals stay year round. The Crater is home to about 30,000 such animals. No giraffes live there. The steep walls make it impossible for their spindly legs to navigate. The caldera is twelve miles wide, so the animals have plenty of room in which to live. Here you will find lions, zebras, wildebeests, and it is one of the only places on earth where the black rhinoceros lives and breeds in a natural environment. This breed is slowly becoming extinct, and only about twenty are known to live in the crater. The government takes many steps to ensure their safety. Flamingos abound in the fresh water lake and the natural forests provide shelter. Only indigenous tribes, such as the Maasai, are allowed to live here.

Tarangire National Park is best known for its elephant population and its some 300 species of birds. However, other animals live here in safety – the topi, the eland, and the oryx are examples of these.

The smallest park in the northern part of Tanzania is Lake Manyara National Park. Here one finds thousands of flamingos at a time. Of course there are always animals – elephants, baboons, and many others.

Olduvai Gorge was made famous by the Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey. Here they discovered the remains of very early man, about 1.8 million years old. They also found footprints dating 3.7 million years ago. This is one of the oldest sites of hominoid habitation in the world. The Gorge lies in the eastern part of the Serengeti Plains.

Birds are everywhere. Some examples of these are the secretary bird, the bustard, the superb starling, the crowned crane, and buzzards of many kinds.

The best way to end a safari is by finding a place of relaxation. That, too, is in Tanzania, on the island of Zanzibar, often called the “Gateway to Africa”. Zanzibar is one of the Spice Islands and the smell of these spices is always in the air. Its largest town is Stonetown, famous for its doors. The dark side of this island is that it was the last place on earth to abolish slavery, and the former slave-holding cells can still be found under a church. The brightest side of Zanzibar lies on it eastern coast where it meets the Indian Ocean. The white sandy beaches seem to stretch eternally, and the clear azure waters seem to call you to come in. Lovely five-star resorts dot the coast, cooled by the tall palm trees and bejeweled with stunning flowers.

Tanzania is a place you will want to visit time and time again.

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