False 61 msafiri

False msafiri 62 TANZANIA is for… Relaxation It isn’t all about dusty game drives OR MOUNTAIN TREKKING. Tanzania has some great chill- out venues, like the beach resorts of Zanzibar or Bagamoyo, where a day’s activity might amount to little more than a pampering session at the onsite wellbeing spa. is for… Southern Safari Circuit The national parks and reserves of southern Tanzania form an utterly compelling circuit – one that feels thrillingly untrammelled by comparison to its northern counterpart. The hub of the circuit is the 45,000 sq km Selous Game Reserve, Africa’s largest conservation area that’s teeming with elephant, buffalo, sable antelope, hippo, lion and wild dog. Selous is unique among Tanzania’s major reserves in that boat safaris ( along the mighty Rufiji River) and game walks are an integral part of the experience. Ruaha National Park, a rugged thirstland of boulder-strewn ridges and ancient baobabs, is a favourite with the safari cognoscenti for its varied game viewing, notably prides of 20- plus lion and the localised roan antelope and greater kudu. More remote still, Katavi National Park, serviced by a few tented camps, attracts dry- season concentrations of buffalo, elephant and hippo that evoke Africa as it was a century ago. is for… Queen’s Freddie Mercury Tanzania’s most famous son – Farrokh Bulsara to his parents - was born on Zanzibar on 5 September 1946. Mercury’s, on the Stone Town waterfront, is the place to have a drink in memory of the iconic rock star. is for… Prehistoric sites The first evidence supporting Darwin’s once scandalous proposition that man’s earliest ancestors lived in Africa was unearthed by Louis and Mary Leakey in 1959 at Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge. The discovery of a jawbone from a male Australopithecine that lived and died 1.75 million years ago also proved that hominid evolution stretched back more than a million years. A replica of the jawbone can be seen in the National Museum in Dar es Salaam, but the informative site museum at Olduvai Gorge itself is easily visited en route between Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. is for… Off the beaten track The possibilities for getting off the beaten track in Tanzania are practically limitless. Take Saadani National Park, for example, where a stretch of Indian Ocean coastline is frequented by lions and elephants. Then there are the atmospheric old Swahili towns of Pangani and Mikindani, the endemic- rich Udzungwa Mountains National Park and Amani Nature Reserve, the lovely inland ports of Kigoma and Bukoba, the game- rich floodplains of Mikumi National Park, and the weird rockscapes of Isimila Gorge.