Tanzania As a Tourist Destination

Tanzania is a country with an impressive array of archeological and historical heritage sites. The Leakey family dedicated their lives to unearthing the mystery of evolution here, and confirmed the East African region as the cradle of mankind. This makes Tanzania the oldest continuously inhabited area on Earth with fossil remains of humans and pre-human hominids found dating back over two million years. More recently, the country is believed to have been populated by hunter-gatherer communities, probably Khoisan speaking people whose desendants now live in Southern Africa, about 2000 years ago

The country offers iconic tour destinations such as the legendary plains of Serengeti, the geological marvel that is the Ngorongoro Crater and Africa's highest peak the magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro. To top it up this it hosts the famous wildebeest migration.

These are the destinations that get hundreds of thousands of people each year to go on an African safari.If you are looking for some of the wildest areas of African wilderness you will find it here at the selous game reserve considered the largest game reserve in Africa and one of the largest in the world.

African safari Wildlife aside, Tanzania also boasts of great African beaches. Zanzibar only recently voted Top 10 beaches of the world by the UK's Guardian News paper is the jewel of the east-African coast and perhaps the best-kept secret in the Indian Ocean with coconut palms and powder soft coral sands washed by shimmering clear seas but there is more with the islands of Pemba and Mafia, part of the Zanzibar Archipelago. You can walk down the streets and alleys of Stone Town, a world heritage site, and feel as though you've been lost in time. Zanzibar island is only 50 miles long but full of variety. One can visit the ruins of the palaces created by the Sultans of Oman or tour the breathtaking coast and oh yes it is possible to swim with the dolphins.

Within the space of just a few hours, it's actually possible to go from lazing on idyllic white sandy beaches to exploring moss-covered ruins of ancient Swahili city-states. From climbing the mist-covered slopes in the Southern Tanzanian Highlands to trekking through the barren landscapes around Ol Doinyo Lengai, guided by a spear-carrying Maasai warrior.

Although the country offers travellers an array of options, set against the backdrop of a cultural mosaic in close to 100 ethnic groups amicably rub shoulders with one another, most visitors often head straight for the famed northern wildlife-watching circuit and then unwind on Zanzibar's beaches not knowing better because Tanzania has much more to offer anyone with the time and inclination to head off the beaten path.

For those seeking creature comforts our advice would be to stick to the northern safari circuit and Islands of Zanzibar with great roads and expensive resturants down south, and especially in the south and west of the country, you'll soon find yourself well off the beaten path, surrounded by a Tanzania that's far removed from Western civilization.