TANZANIA

East Africa's wild frontier...

Getting away from it all takes on new meaning in Tanzania. Home to some of the most remote reserves in Africa where the word "wild" is an understatement, escaping the crowds is something this East African nation does particularly well.

Gombe, Mahale, Ruaha and the Nyerere National Park/Selous are about as isolated and untamed as you can get when it comes to African wilderness areas and offer you the chance to feel like a latter-day explorer. Except you won't have a pith helmet or those odd, baggy jodhpur-type trousers.

Add to the mix the legends that are the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, towering Mount Kilimanjaro, the vast Tarangire with its crazy baobabs and the pristine beaches of Zanzibar and you know you're onto a safari winner.

The experiences are off the chart too... Topped by the Great Wildebeest Migration and closely followed by the mind-blowing mystery of the world's largest, intact volcanic crater packed with wildlife, you can also track chimps, ford rivers, climb Kilimanjaro and generally get down and dusty in far-flung places.

Best Times To Visit

Things To Do

Hot air balloon over the Serengeti during the migration

When the greatest show on Earth rolls into town and you're surrounded by almost a million wildebeest, gnu-ing their heads off, sometimes its nice to get some perspective... Which is why taking a hot air balloon up, up and away is an absolute must in our books. You'll soon understand the enormity of this mass movement of mammals and have your mind properly blown. In a good way, of course.
Explore Kilimanjaro

It's the tallest peak in Africa, the world's biggest freestanding mountain and what's known as a "stratovolcano" - let's hear it for Kilimanjaro which has its home here in Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border. You can hike it, climb it or mountain bike it, or, if you like, just admire it from a distance or fly over it. Whatever your preferred way of experiencing "Kili" is, we're good with it.
Hike the calderas of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Aahhh... Calderas... There's plenty of them in Tanzania. As well as the world's largest intact one - the Ngorongoro Crater. In fact, volcanic activity has helped to shape the area around Ngorongoro, making it a fascinating place to explore on foot, so grab your hiking boots and try to imagine what it all looked like way back when when molten lava was pumping out of every crevice!
Sleep under the stars

You've really not experienced the magic of Africa until you've slept under her vaulted night skies. Yes, it sounds amazingly romantic, and it is. And just plain amazing to boot. Whether it's a fly camp on the banks of the Rufiji River in the Selous, a luxury sleepout in Lake Manyara National Park or a billion-star Serengeti sleepover, you'll never do bedtime like this again...