Tanzania is a land of contrasts. From the snow-capped peak of Mt Kilimanjaro to the endless plains of the Serengeti, from the sun-kissed islands of the Zanzibar Archipelago to the gentle shores of Lake Victoria, the country contains immense cultural and natural wealth. It was here, on the dusty floor of Olduvai Gorge, that early man left his first footprints. It was here, on palm-fringed Zanzibar, that Swahili traders welcomed dhows and trading boats from across the Indian Ocean.
For millennia, Tanzania has played an essential part in the life of the African continent. The great wildebeest migration alone comprises the largest movement of land animals on the planet. With over 25% of the country’s total landmass dedicated to wildlife parks and conservation areas, Tanzania remains wholeheartedly committed to the preservation of Africa’s great wilderness and incredible range of animal species.
The Republic of Tanzania is one of Africa’s most peaceful countries. Home to a flourishing democracy and prospering economy, the country is known for its peace and security. A well-maintained infrastructure and three international airports connect its bustling commercial centers and ensure easy transportation, whether by air or by road. Tanzania’s people are a diverse mix of traditional tribes, village farmers and cosmopolitan professionals united by a common language, Swahili, and a strong sense of national community.
Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly the most famous of the country’s national parks, the annual wildebeest migration attracting thousands of visitors each year. For sheer African magic, the Ngorongoro Crater – often called the ‘8th Natural Wonder of the World’ – is a must-see. Deep within the ancient caldera, herds of gazelle roam beside sated lions, and endangered black rhino and elusive cheetah are often spotted through the early morning mist.
Still, the big-name parks aren’t all the country has to offer. The elephants of Tarangire National Park and the tree-climbing lions of Lake Manyara also reward the discerning traveler.
On the Indian Ocean shore, the Saadani Game Reserve is the most recently protected area to receive international attention. Famed for its views of elephant playing in the ocean surf, Saadani and other lesser-known national parks offer equally ?rewarding experiences for guests willing to wander off the beaten track.
But the magic of safari isn’t all this great country has to offer. Tropical beaches, coral reefs and the Swahili culture along the Indian Ocean coast are also a main attraction for visitors who want to end their experience of the African bush with some well-earned relaxation, Zanzibar-style. For the more intrepid adventurers, a climb to the rooftop of Africa, Mt Kilimanjaro, is the highlight of a safari itinerary. Longer treks through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, through the magical Gol Mountains or up the active volcano of Ol Donyo Lengai, are a fantastic way to experience little-visited parts of the country in a new way.
Tanzania has a wealth of diverse groups that make up its national community. Hunter-gatherer tribes and fierce Maasai coexist in the northern wilderness, and lesser-known peoples like the Wadorobo and the Iraqw also make up the collage of the country. Cultural tourism has become a popular choice for many visitors to Tanzania, with different programs and itineraries on offer around the country. From day-hikes on the slopes of Mt Meru to honey collecting in the Usambaras, discovering local culture is a highlight for any visitor to Africa.
So welcome to Tanzania – experience the warmth of our people, the magic of our wilderness, and the sheer wonder of our wildlife. Karibu Tanzania – the authentic Africa
CULTURE TOURISM
Cultural tourism in Tanzania started as a program to help rural communities enjoy the benefit of tourism sector in which they are a part of. The main goal is that rural communities should directly benefit from tourists who visit their areas. Cultural tourism allows local people such asMaasai, Pare, Sambaa, Wa-arusha, Gogo, Nyakyusa and Wazaramo to offer tours that show their culture, their sacred places of worship, economic activities, for example, farming, pastoralism and fishing.
The income generated is used by local people for specific development programmes, such as, the building of dispensaries, schools and cattle dip sites.
TANZANIA MAASAI
Maasai Of Tanzania’s 120 ethnic groups, the Maasai are among the best known to the western world due to their distinctive customs and dress, and their residence near some of the greatest collections of wildlife on earth. These traditionally nomadic herders and warriors live in Northern Tanzania and southern Kenya in the vast open spaces of the Great Rift Valley, sometimes called Masailand.
Survivors of a past era, the Maasai live much the same way their ancestors did for centuries. Unconcerned about the passing of time, their lives are dictated by the rising and setting of the sun, the rugged landscape and the ever-changing seasons.
Maasai cultural encounters are relatively new in Northern Tanzania.
The best way to experience and learn about Maasai life is to visit Maasai communities and to walk and hike through Maasai land with your PAKITENG guide. Experience the awe and excitement of being on safari with PAKITENG by going beyond the search for the Big Five – buffalo, rhino, elephant, leopard and lion - and include:
·African bush experiences on foot accompanied by our professional Maasai guides and trackers.
·Cross-cultural encounters with Maasai villagers away from the tourist circuit.
·Home stay opportunities in traditional Maasai bomas.
·Hikes through Masailand with experienced PAKITENG trekkers.
Live Stock
According to Maasai legend, Lengai (God) entrusted all the world’s cattle to the Maasai for safekeeping when the earth and sky split at the beginning of time. To this day, the Maasai believe that all cattle on the earth essentially belong to them.
The Maasai are expert herdsmen, and cattle are central to the lives of a Maasai community based on the need to pasture and care for them, the need to protect them, and the need to move with them in search of fresh pasture and water. Virtually all social roles and status in Maasai culture derive from the relationship of individuals to their cattle. The animals represent a means of:
·Food - Cow’s milk, along with blood, is the staple food of the Maasai who eat no grain or fruit.
·Currency – Buying and selling cattle is the tribe’s form of currency. They are traded for other livestock, cash, beads, clothing and food items.
·Wealth – Maasai wealth and status are traditionally calculated on the number of cows that an individual owns.
Homes and Villages
A traditional Maasai home is called an enkaji, a low, loaf-shaped temporary structure made with branches and twigs overlaid with a “plaster” mixture of soil, cow dung and ash. Although small, an enkaji provides space for sleeping, cooking and some storage. They are usually damp, smoky, cramped for space, dark, and lack security and privacy. They are susceptible to fire, pests and harsh weather. The roof and the walls frequently crack and peel, requiring constant maintenance.
Several enkaji arranged in a circular fashion around a central livestock pen (kraal) create a Maasai homestead, or boma which is traditionally shared by more than one family.
Customs and Ceremonies
The Maasai are a truly independent and proud culture with highly developed rituals revolving around age and initiations. Throughout Maasai life, almost every rite of passage from birth up to death is greeted with elaborate ceremonies and celebration with many recurring customs. Red is the color of the Maasai. It is the basic color of the Maasai shuka, or red blanket that is often worn around the shoulders by both men and women. Red predominates their beautiful beaded jewelers, and their hair and bodies are smeared with red ochre for various ceremonies.
In Maasai culture the women and girls are responsible for building the family hut, taking care of the children, fetching firewood and water, washing clothes, milking cows and preparing the family meals. Maasai women are easily recognized by their bright clothing and beaded jeweler and are well known for their beadwork.
Women admire the sound of jeweler and incorporate small dangling pieces of shaped metal to make a soft chiming sound. They wear beaded jeweler around the neck, wrists, legs and through their ears.
Maasai men are classed by age into three categories: boys, warriors and elders. Boys transition from herders to warrior and then to elder status, holding varying responsibilities for cattle, protecting and advising the community.
The Maasai live in a polygamous family structure, where men have as many wives as they can afford. Wives are purchased with cattle. Children are considered a wonderful asset.
Maasai have spoken language, known as Maa, but no written language. Their history is recalled through storytelling.
Maasai and Tourism
Despite the fact that Maasai society is currently facing many social, political and economic challenges, they have a history of being able to adapt to changing conditions. Their strong traditional customs and way of life allow them to live in harmony with their beloved surroundings, and now cultural tourism programs are encouraging residents to share their values and customs with others.
Arrange your Maasai-guided walking/trekking adventure or your Maasai cultural visit through PAKITENG where we are dedicated to providing the best experiences possible to our guests, while helping to preserve traditional Maasai
HADZABE
Small groups of Hadzabe bushmen live around Lake Eyasi. Their language resembles the click languages of other bushmen further south in the Kalahari. Their small population was seriously threatened, in particular during the period when Julius Nyere tried to introduce his Ujuma policy. The tribe resisted the forcible settlement policies of Julius Nyere and nowadays most of their children have never seen a doctor or school - the bush provides for all their needs and is a class room for their offspring.
They are often willing for visitors to come and see their simple bush homes where the tree canopy alone or a cave provides them with shelter. They live entirely off the bush and from hunting, generally small antelopes and baboons, although in rainy seasons gazelles and antelopes come down from the Ngorongoro or Serengeti to their then lush bush lands offering them richer pickings. In the recent past their hunting activities were resented by trophy hunters who tried to stop their "illegal" hunting.
The string on their lethal bows is made from giraffe tendons and the arrows are coated with a strong poison made from another tree. The commiphora tree provides excellent firewood which they kindle by rubbing wood, a green commiphora provides a mosquito-repelling sap, juice squeezed out of the sansaveria provides a cure for snake bites while aloe is used to heal cuts. Roots provide a wide range of medicines and the mighty baobab fruits as a source of drink. A few hours spent with the bushmen makes the apparently inhospitable bush country come to life and to watch them hunt a unique experience as they stealthily spot then creep up on their prey skillfully killing it.
KILIMANJARO NATIONAL PARK
Kilimanjaro. The name itself is a mystery wreathed in clouds. It might mean Mountain of Light, Mountain of Greatness or Mountain of Caravans. Or it might not. The local people, the Wachagga, don't even have a name for the whole massif, only Kipoo (now known as Kibo) for the familiar snowy peak that stands imperious, overseer of the continent, the summit of Africa.
Kilimanjaro, by any name, is a metaphor for the compelling beauty of East Africa. When you see it, you understand why. Not only is this the highest peak on the African continent; it is also the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, rising in breathtaking isolation from the surrounding coastal scrubland – elevation around 900 metres – to an imperious 5,895 metres (19,336 feet).
Kilimanjaro is one of the world's most accessible high summits, a beacon for visitors from around the world. Most climbers reach the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, proper clothing and determination. And those who reach Uhuru Point, the actual summit, or Gillman's Point on the lip of the crater, will have earned their climbing certificates.
And their memories.
But there is so much more to Kili than her summit. The ascent of the slopes is a virtual climatic world tour, from the tropics to the Arctic.
Even before you cross the national park boundary (at the 2,700m contour), the cultivated footslopes give way to lush montane forest, inhabited by elusive elephant, leopard, buffalo, the endangered Abbot’s duiker, and other small antelope and primates. Higher still lies the moorland zone, where a cover of giant heather is studded with otherworldly giant lobelias.
Above 4,000m, a surreal alpine desert supports little life other than a few hardy mosses and lichen. Then, finally, the last vestigial vegetation gives way to a winter wonderland of ice and snow – and the magnificent beauty of the roof of the continent.
NOTE :-Climb slowly to increase your acclimatisation time and maximise your chances of reaching the summit.
To avoid altitude sickness, allow a minimum of five nights, preferably even more for the climb. Take your time and enjoy the beauty of the mountain.
About Kilimanjaro National Park
Size: 755 sq km (292 sq miles).Location: Northern Tanzania, near the town of Moshi.
Getting there
128 km (80 miles) from Arusha. About one hour’s drive from Kilimanjaro airport.
What to do
Six usual trekking routes to the summit and other more-demanding mountaineering routes. Day or overnight hikes on the Shira plateau. Nature trails on the lower reaches.
Trout fishing. Visit the beautiful Chala crater lake on the mountain’s southeastern slopes.
When to go
Clearest and warmest conditions from December to February, but also dry (and colder) from July-September.
Accommodation
Huts and campsites on the mountain.
Several hotels and campsites outside the park in the village of Marangu and town of Moshi.
RUAHA NATIONAL PARK
The game viewing starts the moment the plane touches down. A giraffe races beside the airstrip, all legs and neck, yet oddly elegant in its awkwardness. A line of zebras parades across the runway in the giraffe's wake.
In the distance, beneath a bulbous baobab tree, a few representatives of Ruaha's 10,000 elephants - the largest population of any East African national park, form a protective huddle around their young.
Second only to Katavi in its aura of untrammelled wilderness, but far more accessible, Ruaha protects a vast tract of the rugged, semi-arid bush country that characterises central Tanzania. Its lifeblood is the Great Ruaha River, which courses along the eastern boundary in a flooded torrent during the height of the rains, but dwindling thereafter to a scattering of precious pools surrounded by a blinding sweep of sand and rock.
A fine network of game-viewing roads follows the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries, where , during the dry season, impala, waterbuck and other antelopes risk their life for a sip of life-sustaining water. And the risk is considerable: not only from the prides of 20-plus lion that lord over the savannah, but also from the cheetahs that stalk the open grassland and the leopards that lurk in tangled riverine thickets. This impressive array of large predators is boosted by both striped and spotted hyena, as well as several conspicuous packs of the highly endangered African wild dog.Ruaha's unusually high diversity of antelope is a function of its location, which is transitional to the acacia savannah of East Africa and the miombo woodland belt of Southern Africa. Grant's gazelle and lesser kudu occur here at the very south of their range, alongside the miombo-associated sable and roan antelope, and one of East AfricaÆs largest populations of greater kudu, the park emblem, distinguished by the male's magnificent corkscrew horns.
A similar duality is noted in the checklist of 450 birds: the likes of crested barbet, an attractive yellow-and-black bird whose persistent trilling is a characteristic sound of the southern bush, occur in Ruaha alongside central Tanzanian endemics such as the yellow-collared lovebird and ashy starling.
About Ruaha National Park
Size: 10,300 sq km (3,980 sq miles), Tanzania's 2nd biggest park.Location: Central Tanzania, 128km (80 miles) west of Iringa.
Getting there
Scheduled and/or charter flights from Dar es Salaam, Selous, Serengeti, Arusha, Iringa and Mbeya. Year-round road access through Iringa from Dar es Salaam (about 10 hours) via Mikumi or from Arusha via Dodoma.
What to do
Day walks or hiking safaris through untouched bush.
Stone age ruins at Isimila, near Iringa, 120 km (75 miles) away, one of Africa's most important historical sites .
Best time
For predators and large mammals, dry season (mid-May-December) bird-watching, lush scenery and wildflowers, wet season (January-April). The male greater kudu is most visible in June, the breeding season.
Accommodation Riverside lodge;
three dry season tented camps;
self-catering bandas, two campsites;
TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
Day after day of cloudless skies. The fierce sun sucks the moisture from the landscape, baking the earth a dusty red, the withered grass as brittle as straw. The Tarangire River has shriveled to a shadow of its wet season self. But it is choked with wildlife. Thirsty nomads have wandered hundreds of parched kilometers knowing that here, always, there is water.
Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It's the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem - a smorgasbord for predators – and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk a regularly observed.
During the rainy season, the seasonal visitors scatter over a 20,000 sq km (12,500 sq miles) range until they exhaust the green plains and the river calls once more. But Tarangire's mobs of elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world.
On drier ground you find the Kori bustard, the heaviest flying bird; the stocking-thighed ostrich, the world's largest bird; and small parties of ground hornbills blustering like turkeys.
More ardent bird-lovers might keep an eye open for screeching flocks of the dazzlingly colourful yellow-collared lovebird, and the somewhat drabber rufous-tailed weaver and ashy starling – all endemic to the dry savannah of north-central Tanzania.
Disused termite mounds are often frequented by colonies of the endearing dwarf mongoose, and pairs of red-and-yellow barbet, which draw attention to themselves by their loud, clockwork-like duetting.
Tarangire's pythons climb trees, as do its lions and leopards, lounging in the branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail.
About Tarangire National Park
Size: 2,600 sq km (1,005 sq miles).Location: 118 km (75 miles) southwest of Arusha.
Getting there
Easy drive from Arusha or Lake Manyara following a surfaced road to within 7km (four miles) of the main entrance gate; can continue on to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.
Charter flights from Arusha and the Serengeti.
What to do
Guided walking safaris.
Day trips to Maasai and Barabaig villages, as well as to the hundreds of ancient rock paintings in the vicinity of Kolo on the Dodoma Road.
When to go
Year round but dry season (June - September) for sheer numbers of animals.
Accommodation
One lodge, one tented lodge, one luxury tented camp inside the park, another half-dozen exclusive lodges and tented camps immediately outside its borders.
Camp sites in and around the park.
ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK
The closest national park to Arusha town – northern Tanzania’s safari capital – Arusha National Park is a multi-faceted jewel, often overlooked by safarigoers, despite offering the opportunity to explore a beguiling diversity of habitats within a few hours.
The entrance gate leads into shadowy montane forest inhabited by inquisitive blue monkeys and colourful turacos and trogons – the only place on the northern safari circuit where the acrobatic black-and-white colobus monkey is easily seen. In the midst of the forest stands the spectacular Ngurdoto Crater, whose steep, rocky cliffs enclose a wide marshy floor dotted with herds of buffalo and warthog.
Further north, rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty of the Momela Lakes, each one a different hue of green or blue. Their shallows sometimes tinged pink with thousands of flamingos, the lakes support a rich selection of resident and migrant waterfowl, and shaggy waterbucks display their large lyre-shaped horns on the watery fringes. Giraffes glide across the grassy hills, between grazing zebra herds, while pairs of wide-eyed dik-dik dart into scrubby bush like overgrown hares on spindly legs.
Although elephants are uncommon in Arusha National Park, and lions absent altogether, leopards and spotted hyenas may be seen slinking around in the early morning and late afternoon. It is also at dusk and dawn that the veil of cloud on the eastern horizon is most likely to clear, revealing the majestic snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro, only 50km (30 miles) distant.
But it is Kilimanjaro’s unassuming cousin, Mount Meru - the fifth highest in Africa at 4,566 metres (14,990 feet) – that dominates the park’s horizon. Its peaks and eastern footslopes protected within the national park, Meru offers unparalleled views of its famous neighbour, while also forming a rewarding hiking destination in its own right.
Passing first through wooded savannah where buffalos and giraffes are frequently encountered, the ascent of Meru leads into forests aflame with red-hot pokers and dripping with Spanish moss, before reaching high open heath spiked with giant lobelias. Everlasting flowers cling to the alpine desert, as delicately-hoofed klipspringers mark the hike’s progress. Astride the craggy summit, Kilimanjaro stands unveiled, blushing in the sunrise.
About Arusha National Park
Size: 137 sq km (53 sq miles).
Location: Northern Tanzania, northeast of Arusha town.
Getting there
An easy 40-minute drive from Arusha. Approximately 60 km (35 miles) from Kilimanjaro International Airport. The lakes, forest and Ngurdoto Crater can all be visited in the course of a half-day outing at the beginning or end of an extended northern safari.
What to do
Forest walks, numerous picnic sites;three- or four-day Mt Meru climb - good acclimatisation for Kilimanjaro.
When to go To climb Mt Meru, June-February although it may rain in November.
Best views of Kilimanjaro December-February.
Accommodation A lodge, two rest houses, camp sites, two mountain huts inside the park; two lodges at Usa River outside the park and many hotels and hostels in Arusha town.
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