TOP 21 best attractions in Tanzania

Tan­za­nia is a beau­ti­ful African coun­try locat­ed along the coast of the Indi­an Ocean. It includes islands, reserves, large lakes with clean water, pic­turesque plains and high moun­tains.

Who and why comes to Tanzania

Tourism is an impor­tant part of the Tan­zan­ian econ­o­my. More than 1 mil­lion for­eign­ers vis­it it every year. Trav­el­ers like the pic­turesque African cities in Per­sian, Ara­bic, Euro­pean and Indi­an style. Sou­venir shops, cof­fee hous­es, and antique shops are open in the labyrinths of nar­row cen­tral streets.

His­to­ry con­nois­seurs go to the island of Zanz­ibar to see the famous Stone Town, where majes­tic palaces, rem­i­nis­cent of the hey­day of the Omani Empire, old hous­es and mosques have been pre­served.

Tan­za­nia is famous for its nation­al parks, reserves, seclud­ed beach­es. Peo­ple come here to see Mount Kil­i­man­jaro, Lake Vic­to­ria, the Serengeti savan­nah, the Indi­an Ocean, scu­ba div­ing, fish­ing, wind­surf­ing.

Some of the locals set­tle far from civ­i­liza­tion and adhere to tra­di­tion­al cus­toms. For a mod­est fee, natives offer to get acquaint­ed with their cul­ture and way of life. Excur­sions to the eth­nic Maa­sai vil­lages, where you can par­tic­i­pate in rit­u­als and cer­e­monies, are very pop­u­lar.

Tan­za­nia is a calm coun­try suit­able for fam­i­lies. Good impres­sions are giv­en by swim­ming in the Indi­an Ocean, view­ing nature reserves, African prairies, and trop­i­cal jun­gles. In this cor­ner of the wild, you can see rare ani­mals and watch them in their nat­ur­al habi­tat.

It is bet­ter to plan a trip from July to Octo­ber. At this time, there are rarely storms in the coastal zone, there are no con­stant rains and suf­fo­cat­ing heat. When you trav­el, be sure to get your yel­low fever vac­ci­na­tions and fol­low the hygiene rules to make your vaca­tion as pleas­ant as pos­si­ble.

Interesting places

Dodoma

In the cen­tral part of the coun­try on an ele­vat­ed plain is the cap­i­tal of Tan­za­nia — Dodoma. Pub­lic author­i­ties, high­er edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions and muse­ums are con­cen­trat­ed in the city. Tourists stroll along the cen­tral square, enter the sacred Sikh tem­ple, taste ori­en­tal sweets in small cafes.

Dodoma is sur­round­ed by short grass savan­nah. Ele­phants, hip­pos, antelopes, ostrich­es are found in it. To get acquaint­ed with the ani­mal and plant world, local res­i­dents offer excur­sions in the sur­round­ings.

Dar es Salaam

More than 4 mil­lion peo­ple live in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tan­za­nia. It was the coun­try’s cap­i­tal until 1993 and remains the cul­tur­al and indus­tri­al cen­ter of East Africa. The main streets are lined with build­ings with a bright imprint of the colo­nial era.

Many hous­es are dec­o­rat­ed with intri­cate Ara­bic orna­ments, Indi­an paint­ings, arch­es, columns. The city has well-main­tained beach­es where you can swim, surf, and sport fish.

Bagamoyo

The small town of Bag­amoyo on the shores of the Indi­an Ocean was once the cen­ter of the trade in slaves and ivory. The colo­nial past is rem­i­nis­cent of archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ments and the paths of slave car­a­vans that run through the city. Bag­amoyo is a pop­u­lar tourist des­ti­na­tion.

Peo­ple come to see the British fort of the last cen­tu­ry, the Catholic mis­sion, the Arab tea house, the Fri­day Mosque and the Liv­ingston Memo­r­i­al.

Zanzibar

On the island of Zanz­ibar, there is a city of the same name, built up with Arab hous­es made of coral stone, dec­o­rat­ed with carved doors, lat­tices, pat­terns in the form of fish and flow­ers. The old­est part of Zanz­ibar is includ­ed in the UNESCO World Her­itage List and is called “Stone City”.

It con­sists of ancient hous­es, bazaars, mosques. The main archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ments are the palace of Sul­tan Seyyid Bar­gash Beit El-Ajayb and the Arab fort of the 18th cen­tu­ry.

Pemba Island

A large coral island off the main­land of Tan­za­nia attracts lovers of out­door activ­i­ties. There are few lux­u­ry hotels and enter­tain­ment here, but there are unex­plored places and nat­ur­al attrac­tions.

Tourists are wait­ing for the ruins of medieval tow­ers, untouched rain­forests, man­go groves, sandy beach­es, a diverse under­wa­ter world of a sea reef, and hos­pitable native vil­lages.

Architecture

House of Wonders

In the cen­ter of Zanz­ibar ris­es the main archi­tec­tur­al ensem­ble of the city — the Palace of Mir­a­cles, bet­ter known as Beit El Adjaib. The build­ing of the 19th cen­tu­ry is dec­o­rat­ed with columns, veran­das, a high square tow­er with a spire. Before the for­ma­tion of an inde­pen­dent state, there was a res­i­dence of the Sul­tan, and now a muse­um has been opened.

Guests are shown the cham­bers and per­son­al belong­ings of the rulers of Zanz­ibar, antique fur­ni­ture, and jew­el­ry. Exhi­bi­tions of con­tem­po­rary art are held in sep­a­rate halls. Some premis­es are rent­ed to pri­vate indi­vid­u­als.

Arab fort

Near the Palace of Mir­a­cles stands a fort built by the Arabs in the 18th cen­tu­ry in hon­or of the expul­sion of the Por­tuguese from here.

The fortress soon passed into the hands of the British and was under their con­trol until the mid­dle of the last cen­tu­ry. Today the fort is the cul­tur­al cen­ter of Zanz­ibar. It reg­u­lar­ly hosts exhi­bi­tions, dance shows, hol­i­days, fes­ti­vals, among which the lead­ing place is occu­pied by the ZIFF Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val and the Swahili Music Fes­ti­val.

Palace of Sultan Majid

The Sul­tan’s Palace with an area of ​​1000 m² is easy to find in the cen­ter of Dar es Salaam. An archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ment built in the 19th cen­tu­ry from yel­low sand­stone stands out for its rig­or and beau­ty.

The build­ing is sur­round­ed by a high fortress wall. The inte­ri­ors are dec­o­rat­ed with com­plex Ara­bic pat­terns, gild­ed paint­ings, and columns. The tour shows the throne room, the library, the pri­vate cham­bers of Sul­tan Majid.

Mosque of Gaddafi

Dodoma is home to the sec­ond largest mosque on the African con­ti­nent. It is named after Muam­mar Gaddafi, a Libyan politi­cian who was killed dur­ing the civ­il war. Even dur­ing his life­time, Gaddafi allo­cat­ed $4 mil­lion for the con­struc­tion.

The build­ing in the style of clas­si­cal Islam­ic archi­tec­ture has two domes, one minaret and can accom­mo­date 3,000 peo­ple. An edu­ca­tion­al cen­ter has been erect­ed near­by, which teach­es com­put­er lit­er­a­cy, the­ol­o­gy, and the Ara­bic lan­guage.

Anglican Cathedral

At the end of the 19th cen­tu­ry, the British built a large cathe­dral in Zanz­ibar in a typ­i­cal Eng­lish style. It stood out sharply from the gen­er­al pic­ture of the city with a wide church house and a high bell tow­er with a gabled roof. Inside are an old wood­en cru­ci­fix and stained glass win­dows.

Cur­rent­ly, it is the main cathe­dral of the Angli­can Church of Tan­za­nia. Not only ser­vices are held here, but also meet­ings of bish­ops, as well as solemn events.

Cathedral of Saint Joseph

In the har­bor of Dar es Salaam in 1902, Ger­man mis­sion­ar­ies erect­ed a Catholic Goth­ic church, which became the dec­o­ra­tion of the city. The tem­ple attracts tourists with bright red tiles, nar­row arch­es, a large rose win­dow in the cen­ter of the facade.

The inte­ri­or is dec­o­rat­ed with col­or­ful stained-glass win­dows, fres­coes and sculp­tures. Inside you can see a beau­ti­ful altar, works of art by Ger­man artists and lis­ten to organ music.

Museums

National Museum

The Nation­al Muse­um of Tan­za­nia opened its doors in Dar es Salaam in 1940 at the ini­tia­tive of the gov­er­nor of the colony, Harold McMichael.

Most of the halls are devot­ed to the his­to­ry of East Africa. Tourists are shown archae­o­log­i­cal finds dis­cov­ered dur­ing exca­va­tions of ancient cities, nation­al clothes, musi­cal instru­ments, tools of labor of local res­i­dents. In a sep­a­rate room, a col­lec­tion that tells about King George V and British rule.

Village Museum

In the vicin­i­ty of the cap­i­tal, tra­di­tion­al African huts made of palm branch­es and reeds are exhib­it­ed in the open air. The expo­si­tion shows the dwellings of 16 eth­nic groups. Every detail of the hous­es is care­ful­ly designed.

House­hold items that peo­ple used in every­day life are stored inside. The eth­nic muse­um orga­nizes dai­ly work­shops on weav­ing bas­kets, carv­ing stat­uettes from coconuts, show­ing trib­al dances and ancient rit­u­als.

Cultural Heritage Center

In the north of Tan­za­nia, the Cul­tur­al Her­itage Cen­ter has been opened in the city of Arusha. The con­tem­po­rary iron and glass build­ing hous­es African art. The col­lec­tion includes paint­ings by local artists, wood jew­el­ry, ivory fig­urines, rare authen­tic items.

On the ground floor of the cul­tur­al cen­ter, you can buy sou­venirs, drink cof­fee in a cafe, try nation­al cui­sine in an inex­pen­sive restau­rant.

natural attractions

kilimanjaro

The high­est point on the African con­ti­nent is locat­ed in the north­east of Tan­za­nia. The con­i­cal stra­to­vol­cano con­sists of three peaks cov­ered with snow caps. Climbers with good phys­i­cal train­ing come to con­quer Kil­i­man­jaro. The Tan­za­nia Nation­al Parks Author­i­ty has devel­oped routes with dif­fer­ent lev­els of dif­fi­cul­ty.

Trav­el with an instruc­tor, which takes 5–8 days, includes acclima­ti­za­tion, accom­mo­da­tion in tents, meals. The routes pass through all cli­mat­ic zones and end in the Arc­tic desert at an alti­tude of 5895 m above sea lev­el.

Serengeti

The colonists used the Serengeti to hunt African beasts. With Tan­za­ni­a’s inde­pen­dence, the ter­ri­to­ry received the sta­tus of a reserve.

Grassy plains, savan­nahs, and trop­i­cal forests have been pre­served here. Ani­mals reg­u­lar­ly migrate through the nation­al park: antelopes, zebras, giraffes move from one part of the coun­try to anoth­er twice a year, flee­ing from drought or rain.

The tour pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty to study the habits of wild ani­mals, watch birds, take beau­ti­ful pho­tos. In the savan­nah found the site of an ancient man. While exca­va­tions are under­way, this part of the reserve is closed to the pub­lic.

Ngorongoro

On the edge of the Serengeti, there is the Ngoron­goro Crater, 21 km in diam­e­ter and with a total area of ​​265 km². At its bot­tom, a spe­cial micro­cli­mate has formed, con­ducive to the growth of ever­green forests and tall lush grass. In the cen­ter of the crater is Lake Mag­a­di, on the banks of which pink flamin­gos live.

Ngoron­goro is also home to leop­ards, lions, black rhi­nos, hip­pos, ele­phants, wilde­beest and gazelles. The nat­ur­al attrac­tion is rec­og­nized as a bios­phere reserve and is under the pro­tec­tion of UNESCO as a World Her­itage Site.

Ruaha

Along the Rua­ha Riv­er in the cen­ter of Tan­za­nia lies a 10,300 km² nation­al park. Among the end­less savan­nah, 80 species of ani­mals, 500 species of birds, 38 species of fish com­fort­ably live.

Through the nar­row chan­nels of the dry­ing rivers flow­ing into the Ruhau, the nat­ur­al migra­tion routes of giant gazelles, wilde­beest and giraffes pass. The park was cre­at­ed to pre­serve wildlife, as well as to observe ele­phants, lions, African warthogs, buf­faloes.

Manyara

In the north of Tan­za­nia, in Arusha, Lake Man­yara is locat­ed, formed 2 mil­lion years ago at the base of the rift val­ley.

The water in it, sat­u­rat­ed with phos­phate and salt, is con­sid­ered heal­ing. Hot springs are near­by. The lake, sur­round­ed by thick­ets of rub­ber milk­weed, is part of the Lake Man­yara Nation­al Park. Storks, herons, flamin­gos, large pop­u­la­tions of rhi­nos, antelopes, and ele­phants found shel­ter in it.

Mangapwani caves

In Zanz­ibar, not far from the Stone Town, there is a mon­u­ment rem­i­nis­cent of the trag­ic past of the African peo­ple. These are two grot­toes on Man­gap­wani beach used by slavers. Slaves were kept in dark, damp rooms before being placed on a ship and sent to the slave mar­kets of the Mid­dle East, India and Europe.

A pit dug in a cave for keep­ing peo­ple, ven­ti­la­tion holes, columns and ceil­ings that strength­en the ceil­ing have sur­vived to this day. The tour tells about the life of slaves and the his­to­ry of the slave trade.

Victoria

Lake Vic­to­ria, dis­cov­ered by Euro­peans in 1858, is the sec­ond largest fresh water reser­voir in the world. Its max­i­mum depth is 80 meters. The shores are sur­round­ed by savan­nas and ever­green equa­to­r­i­al forests. Croc­o­diles, Nile perch and pro­topter are found in the water — a rare amphibi­ous fish that can breathe with gills and lungs.

There are many nature reserves and nation­al parks around Lake Vic­to­ria. Tsetse flies, preda­to­ry ani­mals, artio­dactyls, snakes, but­ter­flies live in the green zone. Trav­el com­pa­nies offer boat trips, sport fish­ing, safaris in the sur­round­ing area.