Tantalising Tanzania
Serengeti landscape.
Size, space, spectacle
Come with me to Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Imagine an area just a bit smaller than Swaziland or the same size as Northern Ireland. Imagine vast plains, limitless horizons and an abundance of wildlife unlike anywhere else in the world. Imagine huge herds millions strong of zebra and wildebeest that blur and blot the landscape.
Lions are the apex predators in Africa's savannahs.
Watch as lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyenas hunt and catch them with comparative ease because there are very few trees and all year long is open hunting season. It’s predator paradise. And if a four-legged furry predator doesn’t get them there are other eyes watching from the sky. Eagles, buzzards and hawks are circling, and vultures are riding the thermals waiting for the kill.
Maasai tribesmen jump silently and straight-legged, as a show of strength.
Serengeti comes from the Maasai word serengit, which means endless plains. And alongside the sheer numbers of game live the traditional owners of these plains – the red-robed Maasai. Their tall straight figures adorn the landscape – herding cattle, chatting under the shade of the iconic flat-topped acacia trees that dot the landscape, working in their beehive-hutted villages. Don’t expect forests or thickets here in the Serengeti. It’s mostly a land of wide open spaces as far as your binoculars or long camera lens can see.
Buffalo are one of the Big Five.
You’ll also encounter buffalo, giraffe and small herds of elephant, but only in the far north will you find the critically endangered black rhino. Elsewhere, expect hundreds of thousands of the silky Thomson’s gazelle – the prettiest of all the gazelles – its slightly larger version, the Grant’s gazelle, impala, waterbuck, warthog and the tiny Bambi-like Kirk’s dik-dik. And so much more.
The busiest season is December to May during the famous annual migration of over two million ungulates, mainly wildebeest, but always led by zebras our knowledgeable guide, Regan Estomih, tells us. But you’ll not be disappointed at any time of the year.
My daughter, Tara, and I stayed at the Serengeti Serena Lodge. In a prime position in the heart of the Serengeti, it sits on a rocky hill with magnificent views over the surrounding savannah. You can sip a cocktail beside the lovely rim pool and watch the passing mammal parade below.
Beehive-shaped dwellings meld attractively into the grassland, attentive staff smile and greet you throughout your stay, and after a hectic but unforgettable day watching lions mate and doze, cheetahs hunt, olive baboons dodging thousands of hooves, and after marvelling at yet another spectacular African sunset, take time back at the lodge to go out onto your room’s small verandah. Now listen as owls hoot and hyenas whoop as night falls and Africa’s extraordinary display of dazzling stars and the luminous Milky Way light up the black velvet sky.
Accommodation at the Serengeti Serena Lodge is in beehive huts.
But of course there’s much more to Tanzania than the Serengeti. A lesser-known national park is nearby Lake Manyara, where the famous tree-climbing lions are to be found. I had seen them on a previous visit but on this occasion it was pouring with rain. Not a whisker was in sight.
A squacco heron enjoying the marshy flats of Lake Manyara National Park.
A long-toed lapwing showing its long toes.
But if you’re birders like us you would have been in Seventh Heaven. Lake Manyara is 50km long and 16km wide and its soda waters and floodplains are home to more than 400 species of birds. We watched hundreds of waterfowl running about on the floodplains relishing the downpour, including dozens of black crakes, herons of all shapes and sizes, zig-zagging purple swamp hens, paddling flamingos and tip-toeing long-toed lapwings. There were no signs of the park’s huge elephant herds, although we stopped for two lone bulls munching their separate ways along the roadside.
An elephant bull enjoys the lush foliage of Lake Manyara National Park.
Beaches, history and spices
Zanzibar is another of Tanzania’s iconic destinations. Only 35km from the mainland, the very name of this ancient island once ruled by sultans and slave traders conjures up images of white sun-baked buildings, hand-carved old wooden doors, the seductive smell of spices, triangular-sailed Arab dhows, white palm-fringed beaches, colourful coral reefs and abundant marine life.
If you’re a Queen fan you’ll know that Farrokh Bulsara, aka Freddie Mercury, was born in Stone Town, so-called for its centuries-old weathered limestone buildings.
Zanzibar has a unique exotic allure and a fascinating history. The American explorer Henry Stanley set out from Zanzibar to find the missing Dr Livingstone. You can visit the doctor’s 1866 house or climb up to the Old Fort, built in 1560 by the Portuguese. Look out for the spires of St Joseph’s Cathedral, a mini Notre Dame built by French missionaries over a century ago.
Nearby is East Africa’s first Anglican Cathedral with a crucifix carved out of the tree under which David Livingstone’s heart was buried deep in Africa’s interior. There’s a chilling replica of the slave market and its underground dungeons where slaves were imprisoned before being transported to the New World.
And, of course, Zanzibar has for centuries been known as the Spice Island because of its principal export of cloves. Visit a spice garden and imbibe the scents of vanilla, cloves, turmeric, cinnamon and nutmeg before enjoying a curry lunch brimming with local spices.
Tanzania is the destination of a lifetime. Let Flow Travel put it all together for you. Bon voyage!
See some more pictures in our Tanzania gallery.
Sunset in the Serengeti.
Tanzania is known for its tingatinga paintings, which you'll find for sale throughout the country. If you're going to be spending any time in the capital of Dar es Salaam, visit the Tingtinga Arts Cooperative Society in Haile Selassie Road, where you'll find friendly painters and a wide array of high-quality tingatinga paintings
The paintings are typically of wildlife - birds, fish, elephants, giraffes and leopards are common subjects. A great small gift that's easy to carry is a name board for a door – a painter will quickly and helpfully paint the name on that you want while you wait.
The Tingtinga Arts Cooperative Society in Haile Selassie Road, Dar es Salaam.