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Spend a few days in the western Usambura Mountains, about halfway between Dar es Salaam and Arusha. In the past, German colonials came to the Usamburas to escape the tropical heat. Stay in Lushoto town, hike in the hills and enjoy the views. Combine a visit to Mikumi and Ruaha National Parks with a stop in Udzungwa Mountains National Park. Udzungwa is known for its two-hour hike through lush forest to the Sanje River waterfall and its red colobus monkeys and birds.
Exit the western gate of Serengeti National Park to visit Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake and source of the Nile River, and homeland of the Sukuma (see Culture) and Haya peoples. Use relaxing Speke Bay Lodge as a base. (John Hanning Speke is the nineteenth century British explorer who is credited with the discovery of Lake Victoria's Ripon Falls as the White Nile's source.) Visit the Bujora Cultural Center, an open-air museum devoted to Sukuma history and culture. Fly from Mwanza to the island in Lake Victoria occupied by Rubondo National Park, habitat of the shy aquatic antelope called the sitatunga. The sitatunga’s hooves are long and splayed to help support its weight on marshy surfaces. Fly west to Kigoma town on the shores of beautiful Lake Tanganyika, the jumping off point for Gombe Stream National Park which can only be accessed by boat. Hike Gombe's mountainous slopes on a "follow" of chimpanzees studied by Dr Jane Goodall since 1960. Make a side trip to the town of Ujiji near Kigoma. The western terminus of Arab slave traders, Ujiji is also where the famous meeting between explorer-missionary Dr David Livingstone and explorer-journalist Henry Morton Stanley took place in 1871, immortalized by Stanley'’s sound bite "Doctor Livingstone I presume?" Climb 5896 meter high Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, or 4566 meter high Mount Meru, its second highest. Add a dry season hike in the Ngorongoro Highlands to a northern circuit safari. A popular one is a two to three day, roughly six to seven hour a day walk from Ngorongoro or Empakai Craters to Lake Natron, a distance of about 44 kilometers and with an elevation loss of some 2400 meters. Porters and donkeys are used. Vehicles await the group in Natron. The hike is through Maasailand so it is likely that Maasai will be encountered along the way. In Natron, climb in eight to 12 hours Mount Lengai , the Maasai's holy mountain, 2878 meters high, an active volcano and perfectly symmetrical cone.
Lake Eyasi offers good hiking possibilities as does the Monduli area just south of Arusha and Mount Lemagrut in the NCA. Take a cultural tour through the Cultural Tourism Program. These are reasonably priced community operated tours, the proceeds of which support a local project like a school or cattle dip. Tour participants usually spend the day in the village that is involved with the program. In some cases, visitors camp overnight and enjoy local hospitality. Cultural tours may include hiking, such as the tours offered in the Maasai towns of Longido and Monduli. Travelers must be aware that the longevity and consistency of quality vary with these programs from year to year. It is also difficult to organize a visit to some of these programs in advance. Safari operators may have more current information on whether a program is operating. Here's a link to see "Fifteen Cultural Tribal Tours".
Please also see Other Destinations - Congo! |
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Continue south of the Selous Game Reserve to the Mozambique border, homeland of the Makonde people. Dr David Livingstone set out on his last journey from the southern town of Mikindani. Stay at the old German boma - or administrative center - which has been restored and made into a hotel.
Finish on Zanzibar, the legendary island off Tanzania's coast and an old center of Swahili culture, spices and slave trade, now famous for its beaches, cuisine, and UNESCO protected architecture, a hybrid of nineteenth century Indian and Arabic building styles. From Zanzibar journey north to Pemba Island, center of Tanzania's clove industry, where the pace is slower, tourists fewer, and the diving and snorkeling excellent at nearby, picture-perfect Misali Island.
