The other big animals found in the park include zebras, giraffes, buffalo, wildebeest, impala and waterbuck.  The primates include baboons and vervet monkey.  More than 380 species of birds have been identified in the park and this include flamingo, pelican, stilt, duck, heron, egret, spoonbill, ibis, hamerkop, hornbill and fish eagle.  Lucky travelers may catch sight of the park’s famous tree climbing lions, which make their home in mahogany and acacia trees during the rainy season.

The park has been a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve since 1981.

The first European known to have seen Olduvai Gorge was a German butterly collector, Professor Wilhelm Kattwinkle.  In his notes in 1911, he described Olduvai as containing “the book of life” and he took back to Berlin a considerable number of fossils including the teeth of and extinct three toed horse known as Hipparion.

The Gorge stretches about 50 km and is up to 90 km deep.  It was made famous by the excavations over the middle part of last century by the palaeontologist Louis Leakey and more specifically by his wife, Mary Leakey.  The most important findings include Homo habilis, Zinjanthropus and the Laetoli footprints.  Louis Leakey first visited Olduvai Gorge in 1931 and he and Mary dedicated 60 years of their lives to the search of fossil and early mankind.  It was not until 24 years later, on 17 July 1959 that Mary found Zinjanthropus, named austalopithecus boisei after Charles Bois who had supported their work at Olduvai.

Twenty five miles to the southwest of Olduvai are the 3.6 million year laetoli footprints, the earliest of our forbearers are known to have left, a replica of which is featured in the museum at Olduvai.  The Laetoli footprints are the oldest known footprints in the world.

Mafia Island Marine Park was officially declared in November 1994, under the Marine Parks and Reserves Act.  Chole Bay and Kitutia Reef, two of Tanzania’s eight offshore marine reserves declared in 1975, are incorporated into the marine park.

The sea around Mafia has an outstanding mosaic of tropical marine habitats including coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, and inter-tidal flats.

For the expert and the novice diver or snorkeller, Mafia Island Marine Park offer dramatic underwater viewing with a wide variety of choices.  Over 2,000 species of fish from 150 families exist in the western Indian Ocean and new species are being identified.  The behavior, colours, and interrelationships of marine animals are an endless source of fascination for visitors, whether diving or snorkeling.

Tourism on Mafia is still very low but growing.  Commercial planes fly regularly to and from Kilindoni, and there are also charter planes and slower sea transport.

Historically, Mafia Island was connected to the Zanzibar archipelago, but geographically it is part of Songosongo archipelago.

A walk through the narrow, twisting streets of Stone Town plunges you into the past.  Many of the houses here are more than 150 years old and are constructed from the island’s coral stone.  Built by Arab and Indian merchants in the 19^th Century, this is the only functioning historical city in East Africa.

Every year between 10,000 and 40,000 slaves were sold in Zanzibar.  The Anglican Christ Church stands on the site of the old slave market; the alter occupies the stop where the whipping block used to be.

Visiting the bustling market where anything and everything is for sale.  Explore the House of Wonders with its intricate lattice wood-carving, a famous sight in Zanzibar.  The National Museum is an excellent place to learn more about the islands.

The popular spice tours involve a walk in the western and central regions of the island through plantations, private gardens, and forests.  There are more than 50 different spices and fruits, including cinnamon, pepper, pimentos, ginger, tamarind, coffee, ylang-ylang, and sugar cane.  Coconuts are another main produce of the islands.

The island is a nonpareil place for beach holidays; picturesque villages fringe white beaches and crystal water all around the island.

Mount Meru

The park is only 29km from the tourist town of Arusha and Kilimanjaro International Airport.  Tourists’ accommodation within the park includes a few lodges, some campsites, and two huts for climbers.  The park has an area of 137sq km, but there are plans to increase its size by adding to it the surrounding buffer zones.

The attractions of the Park include craters, lakes, forests and wild animals.  Giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, zebras, reedbucks, and other big mammals are abundant in the park, which also contains many species of birds, including flamingos; its forests are home to colobus monkeys.

Three to four days is the recommended time for climbing the mountain.  The best time to climb Meru is from June to February, although it may rain in November.  The best views of Kilimanjaro from Meru are between December and February.

Lying in the south-eastern part of Tanzania, Selous was first mentioned by 19^th Century European explorers.  The name Selous is in memory of the naturalist, hunter, and author Frederic Courteney Selous, who died fighting in World War 1 and was buried near where he fell in the reserve.

The reserve contains a wide variety of wildlife habitats, which include open grasslands, acacia and miombo woodlands, riverine forests, and swamps.  It is home to thousands of the big mammals, hundreds of species of birds, countless small animals, and many reptiles.

The River Rufiji is the main feature in the Selous Game Reserve, and gives opportunities for boat safaris.  The river’s delta contains the largest mangrove forest in the world.  Boast safaris on the river and on the adjacent lakes are a special way to observe wildlife and to see some of the best scenery in the reserve.  Hippos, crocodiles, waterbucks, buffaloes, and a large variety of water birds such as herons, kingfishers, and geese are abundant in and around the river.  Fishing with a line is permitted provided a permit is obtained.  Most camps in the reserve organize these boat safaris.

Game drives are also attractive, especially along the shores of the lakes an the rivers.  Evening drives provide a great experience of seeing the sun going down the over the lakes.  The adventure-seeking traveler can also explore this reserve or the camps organizing the tour will provide a ranger for this.

The park is about 118km, southwest of Arusha, along the Great North Road that proceeds to Dodoma, the administrative capital of Tanzania.  The park is central to Tanzania.  The park is central to Tanzania’s northern circuit of Arusha and Kilimanjaro National Parks, and Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks, making it a perfect place to begin or end an African Safari.

The Tarangire River, from which the park gets its name, is the lifeblood of the park.  It runs through the park and becomes the magnet of vast herds of wildlife in the dry season.  The river shrinks to a shadow of its size in the dry season, yet it remains the only source of water for many thirsty elephants, wildebeests, zebras, buffaloes, impalas, hartebeests and elands, which stretch over the horizon as far as the eye can see and which have wandered hundreds of parched kilometers in search of water.

Instead of dense jungle, the landscape is sparse, with occasional acacia and baobab trees, offering optimum conditions for viewing animals.

A major ecological survey of the Serengeti Reserve (which then included Ngorongoro) by Dr. Bernhard Grzimek and his son in the late 1950s resulted in the establishment of Ngorongoro Conservation Area in 1959. N.C.A was named a World Heritage site in 1979 and got the status of International Biosphere Reserve in 1981.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment in multiple land use in which pastoralism, conservation, and tourism can co-exist.  The aim of the conservation area is to maintain the historic balance of people and nature in a way which has not been possible in other parts of Africa.  At stake are the rich biodiversity and ecology of the Serengeti Plains and the Ngorongoro highlands, the major archaeological sights and the vital water catchments areas.  Within this, man and wildlife have to live together without harming or destroying each other’s habitats.  Tourism provides revenue for the area and is encouraged and developed with respect to culture and the environment.

Every year, more than one and a half million wildebeests, six hundred thousand zebras, and three hundred thousand gazelles, moving in a gigantic herd, migrate from southeast part of the park to the greener west and north and return again to the south in a clockwise cycle.  Around the month of June, after the rains, the animals gather in large herds and then begin the long march away from the southern section of the park.  No one knows for sure what triggers the migration but what is certain is that the herds know that the grass is greener on the other side, and they know when to move and where to go.

In their thousands, these animals travel in long moving columns that at certain points extend for 40 kilometres.

Crossing dangerous rivers, tramping for many kilometers, and grunting in clouds and dust, the animals move with the spirit of nomads, looking for brighter, more attractive pastures beyond.  Following behind the grand multitude are packs of wild dogs and hyenas, families of cheetahs, and prides of lions, all pursuing the matching herbivores.  Above the long, noisy procession are circling vultures and other scavenging and hunting birds, also looking for fortune.  It is truly one of the wonders of the natural world if not in fact the most wonderful of all.

The animals spend most of their time in the Serengeti National Park, eight or nine months a year, because of the availability of ample food resources.  It is also in the Serengeti National Park that they ensure their species’ survival by calving and nurturing their young.  Indeed, calving takes place as soon as they return to southern Serengeti around the end of the year.  Almost all the females give birth, resulting to scores of thousands of newborn calves, more than enough to compensate for the numbers lost to crocodiles at river crossing, to land predators, to tough terrain, to natural causes.  The animals remain in this area until the long rain season ends when they regroup themselves again to begin another migration cycle.

Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano but not an extinct one.  Ominous rumbles can sometimes be heard and gases emerge from fume holes in the crater.  Although just three degrees south of the Equator, the peaks of the mountain have caps of snow and ice year around.

Kilimanjaro climbers pass from a tropical to an artic environment in just a few days.  There are several climbing trails passing through lush rainforest before reaching heather and open moorland where giant lobelia and huge, cactus-like plants grow. There is an almost-lunar landscape at the saddle that stretches between the two peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi.

The highest point on Kibo, and indeed the whole of Africa, is Uhuru Peak, with spectacular glaciers and stupendous views of the plains, five kilometers below.  Also on Kibo is the slightly lower peak of Gillman’s point.  These are the goals for most climbers.  The pinnacle-shaped peaks of Mawenzi are for mountaineers only.

With the help of porters and guides it is possible to walk all the way to the summit of Kibo without specialized mountaineering equipment – or experience – and Kilimanjoro can be conquered by any reasonably fit person.  The whole climb normally takes five or six days and involves four or five overnight stays in mountain huts or tents.