Tourist Attractions & Monuments Tanzania

Prison Island owes its name to an Arab merchant who kept slaves here from Bagamoyo before selling them. A prison was built by the Sultan in 1893, but never used; its ruins can still be seen. The island is home to giant land tortoises, imported centuries ago from the Seychelles. Some are over 100 years old. The trick is to feed them and scratch their necks. There are also free-roaming peacocks, and the beach is superb. Combine with snorkeling around Bawe Island and grilling at the Nakupenda sandbar.

This is the first family theme park to open in Zanzibar. Located in Pwani Mchamgani, Shambaland looks like a local Disneyland, with fake Indiana Jones-style boulders. It attracts mostly locals in the evenings and at weekends, but could do with more tourists. You can play mini-golf, escape games, eat at several food court restaurants, enjoy an ice cream or go shopping. A free-entry swimming pool and children's playground complete the setting. On Friday evenings, a big party is in full swing, with concerts and DJs.

Nicknamed the "secret beach", this little paradise is no longer a secret: there's a café-restaurant on the rock overlooking it and new lodges. Visitors come here to discover a beach that has remained untouched, as it is wedged between coral reefs battered by waves at high tide. So we come to admire it at low tide. Situated in a reserve populated by red colobus monkeys and planted with gigantic baobabs, the scenery is really pretty. The reef is very close here, and whales and dolphins can be spotted offshore.

Let's salute some interesting local initiatives. This small company set up by locals offers guided bike tours and scooter rentals. The two-wheelers are recent and well-maintained. The off-the-beaten-track tours we recommend are those to Ng'ambo (literally "the other side") and Uswazi in Zanzibar's very authentic new town, far from the ultra-touristy hypercentre. The agency also offers bike tours to a spice farm on the outskirts of Stone Town and in the center.

140 km south of Kilwa Masoko, the Mto Nyange site is transformed every year into piscine from June to February. A good idea for a day excursion from Kilwa Island Tours.

The "Northern Circuit" is the most recent route. On the northern flank of the Kili, it is better protected from the rains and can be completed in 8 to 10 days. It's quieter because it's less well-known. From the Londorossi gate to Big Tree (night 1) and then Shira 1 (night 2) in the forest, you climb 700 to 800 m per day, before climbing 1,000 m to Lava Tower (4,550 m). A peak that allows you to acclimatize as you descend to Buffalo Camp at 4,000 m and Third Cave Camp (3,870 m), before climbing back to School Huts camp at 4,870 m before the summit.

Along the road from Paje to Jambiani, you'll see several signs pointing inland to natural caves. Kuza Cave is one of the oldest, while Maalum has just opened to visitors. In both cases, you can bathe in pure, crystal-clear, cool water, while vegetation envelops the cave walls. Maalum is a cave more open to the sky, with more light and a pleasant wooden pontoon for lounging and taking photos. Entrance is also much more expensive.

Pungume is an alternative excursion to Safari Blu, popular for decades but overbooked. The advantage of the Pungume excursion is that it's only done by private boat (you don't get stuck on a boat with other people like on Safari Blue), but it's more expensive in a small group. The corals are better preserved, and the seafood is grilled on a sandbar uncovered at low tide (beware of sea urchins), not on an island. A real change of scenery. We leave from Uzi when we come from Stone Town.

Located near the Darajani market in old Stone Town, this Swahili mansion stands out for its history and its height, far superior to other houses. Built by a wealthy Indian merchant in the ^19th century, the house was home to several sultan families over 125 years before becoming a hotel. All our guides take their groups on a tour of the house's hall and rooftop terrace, with its open-air restaurant and fabulous view over Stone Town. We recommend a visit to admire the house and the panorama.

By continuing on 4 km after Mkoani, we reach a very beautiful beach facing that of Wambaa, across the bay.

For more information contact the Dar es Salaam Tourism Office, Tel (022) 212 0373/213 1555 - Fax: (022) 211 6420 - www.tanzaniatouristboard.com - [email protected] (see «Dar's Practice»). Created in 1964. 12 950 km 2, west of Iringa. Altitude: between 750 m and 1 900 m. This third largest park in Tanzania, 13 times greater than the Maasaï Mara in Kenya, for example, erected as a hunting reserve from 1910, was attached to the Réserve reserve, which was the same size as it. It holds its name (in hehe language, the region's ethnicity) of the river, which forms on 160 km its entire limit, and which flows into the Rufiji. Unfortunately, three large rice plantations take much of the water on the plains of Usangu, north-east of Mbeya where the river has its sources. The Ruaha is certainly the most beautiful park in the country, and therefore the most beautiful and wild in the world. It is also, with the Selous, the most important elephant sanctuaries. Far from everything, it is still very little visited: less than 1 000 visitors per year… All this helps make this park a place reserved for elite tourism, at least from a financial perspective.

Wildlife is absolutely exceptional: in addition to the classic lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants (more than 6 000, while there were only 3 000 in 1985, and 16 000 in the region's ecosystem), hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, buffalo (35 000), guibs harnachés and other élans, it is almost easy to see large and small koudous, black hippotragues, rouannes antelopes, oryx, yellow baboons, lycaons and many others, without forgetting 370 bird species (more than 460 according to some), 38 fish species and 1 650 different plants… The vegetation, dotted with kopjes, is very varied from one place to another in the park: miombo (dry and fairly dense wood of Brachystegia), baobabs, palm trees and savanna trees in the plains, acacias along rivers, fig sauvages, Commiphora… For an interesting visit, start by walk (west side) the Ruaha River, then the Mwagusi and Mdonya Sandrivers; a loop is even possible, along between these two sandrivers the north-west escarpment (which is about metres high) on the side of the Mwayembe wetlands. A stay of about one week is recommended. The best season for the visit is from late June to early December. It rains from December to April. In general, it is warmer than the northern highlands. Attention to tsé flies, very present in places, but to which one owes the park's wild wealth, the flocks and the absence of the human installation…

For more information contact the Dar es Salaam Tourism Office, tel +22 212 0373/213 1555 - Fax: +22 211 6420 - www.tanzaniatouristboard.com - [email protected] - (see «Dar» entry). This park of 1 900 km ² (6 ^th country by size), the most recently created (1992) - although already partly forested since the 1950 s - has a beautiful altitude amplitude: from 300 m to 2 576 m. It is located west of the northern part of Selous, only 10 km from the southwest of Mikumi park. It extends from the forest of Mwanihana, west of Morogoro, to the west Kilombero forest, east of Iringa, and bordered to the north by the Grande Ruaha River that runs along the road from Dar to Mbeya (Tanzanian Zambian Highway). The park is inhabited among others by lions, leopards, black hippotragues, elk, harnachés harnachés, céphalophes, elephants, buffalo, red colobes of an endemic type, souï-grouse, endemic also… In all, six species of monkeys (two endemic), including mangabeys, black and yellow, purple monkeys, reptiles (chameleon, serpents…). This park is also one of the ten largest in Africa for the preservation of ornithological fauna. It also includes many plant species (2 000), of which 20% to 30% are unknown elsewhere. Its forests play a very important role in the country's economy: construction, utensils, oils and honey, medicinal products… Compared to other parks, the establishment has been marked by a strong collaboration between the surrounding villagers and those responsible for conservation. This region has been preserved from all human occupation due to the enchevêtrement of its steep mountains, culminating in Luhombero. Some waterfalls are impressive, including those of Sanje, 170 m high. The park does not include roads or tracks. The explorers must therefore walk from the park headquarters on routes taking 15 minutes to a few days in tents. The park, which will delight the trekkeurs, can be visited in addition to the Mikumi or Ruaha (there are fewer than 400 visitors per year), in 2 or 3 days. In the programme: trekking, walking safari and bird watching. Better period: July to October and December to February.

Some travel agencies organize safaris or hunting parties in Moyowosi. It is a very wooded game reserve known for its lions, leopards, buffles and rare beaks birds. Its fauna is characteristic of the flood plains of East Africa with bloody wood and black woods. It is accessible by car by road from the north to Mugombe (125 km from Kigoma), and then by taking the trail that stretches to the east over 65 km.

The park is proposed by the Safari safari companies.

The specialists in the balloon safari.