Tanzania Tourist Guide

Tanzania is a truly safari destination without peer. It is an all-year travelers’ target and the best time to visit the country depends on your planned trip for the activities that interest you as well as your priorities. Guide for Africa can help you decide on the best time for your visit to Tanzania.
People, Culture & Traditions
Well, the one thing that does bind Tanzania’s diverse attractions is, of course, its people, who take justifiable pride in their deeply blooded national feel of peacefulness and tolerance. Indeed, Tanzania, for all its tribal diversity, is practically unique in Africa in having navigated a succession of modern political hurdles – the transformation from colonial dependency to self-governing nation, from socialist state to free-market economy, from mono-partyism to fully-fledged democracy but without ever undergoing persistent civil & ethnic unrest.
Tanzania’s daunting natural variety is mirrored by a cultural diversity embracing 120 distinct tribes.
Geographical Attractions
At 945,087 sq km, Tanzania is the world’s 31st-largest country (after Egypt). It is mountainous in the northeast, where Mt Kilimanjaro -Africa’s highest peak is situated. To the north and west are the Great Lakes of Lake Victoria (Africa’s largest lake) and Lake Tanganyika (Africa’s deepest lake- with unique fish species); not forgetting Lake Nyasa also. Then, of course, the magical ‘spice island’of Zanzibar, a highlight of the giant Indian Ocean coastline studded with perfect beaches, spectacular offshore diving sites, and mystifying mediaeval ruins. For Central Tanzania is a large plateau with plains and arable land.
The Kalambo water falls in southwest Tanzania’s region of Rukwa as one of Tanzania’s many tourist destinations. The Kalambo Falls are the second highest in Africa and are located near the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika.
National Parks of Tanzania
Tanzania contains many large and ecologically significant wildlife parks, including the famous Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park in the north, and Selous Game Reserve and Mikumi National Park in the south. Gombe National Park in the west is known as the site of Dr. Jane Goodall’s studies of chimpanzee behavior. Best time to visit for Game viewing
For game viewing, the best time to visit Tanzania depends on your priorities. Most National Parks are accessible during the dry season (June to mid-October).
However for Serengeti, the wet season is the best time to see the enormous herds of wildebeest, much as the migration patterns vary and are difficult to predict. But in general, the dry season is best time to visit Tanzania for seeing predators.
Climate of Tanzania
Tanzania has a tropical type of climate. In the highlands, temperatures range between 10˚C and 20˚C during cold and hot seasons respectively. The rest of the country has temperatures rarely falling lower than 20˚C. The hottest period extends between November and February (25˚C – 31˚C) while the coldest period occurs between May and August (15˚C – 20˚C). Two rainfall regimes exist over Tanzania. One is unimodal (December – April) and the other is bimodal (October -December and March – May). The former is experienced in southern, south-west, central and western parts of the country, and the latter is found to the north and northern coast.
Best Time to Visit
The Tanzanian climate is tropical. The Central Plateau is dry and arid with hot days and cool nights, while the north-west highlands are cool and temperate. June to September is the cooler season. The ‘long rains’ are from March to May and the ‘short rains’ are between October and December. The hottest months are between October and February. On the coast, it rains in November and December and from March to May. Coastal areas are hot and humid although sea breeze cools the area pleasantly between June and September.
Islands
As if the bush weren’t enough, Tanzania also has a scattering of islands, strung out like jewels along its coastline, that are well worth living out your tropical island fantasies on … places like  Zanzibar beg exploration – check out our Tanzania Beach feature for information and inspiration. Tanzania is home to the following islands: Chumbe Island, Mafia Island, Mnemba Island, Pemba Island and Rubondo Island.
There are also a number of sites in Tanzania that are of such cultural and environmental significance that they’ve been given World Heritage status. You can go game viewing in the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater, see the birthplace of Swahili culture in Zanzibar’s Stone Town and visit some of Africa’s most noteworthy and oldest rock art sites as well as the palaeontological treasures of Olduvai Gorge. The main World Heritage sites in Tanzania are: Kondoa Rock Art Sites, Olduvai Gorge, Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara and Stone Town