Tanzania is one of the unique destinations on the African continent that has yet to be discovered by many. It is a land of many wonders hubbing an un-paralleled diversity of fauna and flora. Kilimanjaro, the highest permanently snow-capped free standing mountain in Africa, the exotic Islands of Zanzibar, the finest game sanctuaries of Serengeti, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Ruaha, Selous and the Marine Park of Mafia Island are only but a few of the living examples.
The scenery, topography and very friendly people harbour the growth of excellent cultural tourism beach holidays, game hunting, historical and archaeological ventures – and certainly the best wildlife photographic safaris on the continent.
The tourism industry provides excellent investment opportunities in construction and management of hotels, lodges and restaurants, infrastructure ventures, aviation projects, training institutions, tour operations, travel agencies and marketing organizations.
The industry’s mission statement that forms the basis of the tourism policy is to develop sustainable quality tourism that is ecologically friendly to the conservation and restoration of the environment and its people’s culture. In so doing the industry seeks to maximize the net gains that emanate from the various tourism activities.
It is for this reason that the Government is now highly concerned with the improvement of the infrastructure quality and diversity, ease of destination entry formalities, relaxation of foreign exchange regulations and controls, revision of applicable taxes and maintenance of peace, stability and security. As a stimulant, the private sector is increasingly investing in the various tourist plants, improvement of destination access from major sources and within marketing promotion and training of the human resource.
Tourist Attractions
Besides cultural attributes, the other tourism attractions in the country include the rich game to view in National Parks, Game Controlled Areas and Games Reserves.
Just imagine viewing the famous tree climbing lions in the country’s northern parks!
The Kilimanjaro National Park does feature the great ice-caped Equatorial mountain, the Kilimanjaro. The mountain invites challenge to conquer it up its peak that skyscrapers at almost 6km high to mountain climbers.
The Arusha National Park offers everything one wants to see regarding volcanic features and lakes, the flamingoes; buffaloes, the mountain vegetation and the general scenic view of the magnificent Mount Meru.
The Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks, though relatively smaller parks; located south west of Arusha town do offer plenty to see. Black rhinos; over 380 species of birds; the worlds largest bird the ostrich; the Kori bustard the only world heaviest bird that can fly, elephants; wart hogs, baboons, zebra, the tree-climbing lions, hot springs, and the rising steep escarpment of the Tanzania Great rift Valley are only a selection of what these areas can offer.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) about 828 Sq. Km. is a perfect caldera of the world, 18km across, often with nothing we can compare, this is one of the wonders of the world! You will be attracted by the relief, its mountains, drifting sand dunes and the diverse wildlife and the Maasai people. The NCA, due to these and more qualities including its being nearer the cradle of mankind, the Olduvai Gorge, it was declared a World Heritage Site in 1978.
The only place on the planet where a human being is living in harmony with wildlife without harming one another to date the only place to go is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It is culture and ecotourism smoothly nurtured in the environment.
To the north west of NCA, spreads endless plain of the Serengeti National Park (14,763Sq. Km). With over 3 million large animals, involved in seasonal migration the Serengeti has the greatest concentration wildlife unparalleled in the world. The ecological rules regarding who eats who, or lonely death while swimming across rivers during migration and how it is important to be in groups for survival can be observed clearly here.
In southern Tanzania, there lies the greatest wild reserve and second only to Serengeti in wildlife concentration, this is the Selous National Park. Elephants, crocodiles and hippos in rivers; buffaloes, and baobab trees dominate.
Other National Parks include Mahale (the haven of the chimpanzees and baboons); Mikumi, Mkomazi, rubondo, Katavi and Juvenile Udzungwa rich in plant diversity and in colobus monkeys.
Again, going around and across Tanzania, one finds more interesting things. The remains from the oriental architecture found along the coast and Zanzibar, the coral reefs such as those at the Wambe Shando and Mwamba Wamba area; the sulphur springs in Tanga, the Mbozi meteorite remains. The National Museum and other heritage sites add on more interesting sites to visit.