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Tanzania is your quintessential African destination. From vast savannahs playing host to hordes of wildebeest migrating, the majesty of the Serengeti and the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania offers adventures for everybody.

Home to the famed wildebeest migration for most of the year plus a healthy population of chimpanzees, this is a true safari heavyweight. But there's much more to Tanzania than the wildlife.

The country has some of the best mountain trekking in Africa, more than 500 miles of sublime coastline and a rich history as a spice route. And over all this profound beauty, the legendary Maasai people still stand proud.

Hidden gems in Tanzania

Serengeti National Park

Bush Rover Migration Camp

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

The quirkiest mobile camp, and absolutely one of my favourites places to stay anywhere in Tanzania, is Bush Rover Migration Camp. This consists of six double-story standing tents built around the converted Land Rovers used to transport them between different locales. The ground-floor toilet and shower for each unit is actually built into the Land Rover, while the upper floor comprises a canvas bedroom with a balcony from which you can safely watch passing wildlife or stargaze after dark. The camp sets up in the southern Serengeti over December to March for the calving season, before relocating the Western Corridor to catch the northward migration over June to mid-July, then heading further north, along with the wildebeest, to the Mara River area over August to October.

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Mahale Mountains National Park

Greystoke Mahale

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

Arriving at Greystoke, you could be forgiven for thinking you've washed up on a jungle-swathed Indian Ocean island. This idyllic beach camp stands on Lake Tanganyika, a beautiful inland sea that ranks as the world's longest freshwater body, and reportedly the least polluted. Greystoke is the perfect base for tracking chimpanzees in Mahale Mountains – on two previous visits, these hirsute apes have actually walked through camp – and it also offers dhow trips out onto the lake. In common with Chada and Sand River, Greystoke is owned by Nomad Tanzania, a locally-based company that operates several of the country’s most alluring and exclusive bush camps

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Katavi National Park

Chada Katavi

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

When it comes to that classic bush feel, few safari camps can match Chada. Set in remote and little visited Katavi National Park, this low-footprint camp comprises just six standing tents scattered in a tall acacia glade overlooking a vast floodplain alive with buffalo, hippo and other wildlife. The tents are very spacious, but simply decorated, with old-school bucket showers and eco-toilets. Chada really comes alive at night: I’ve had elephants nibbling on fallen acacia pods all around my tent here, and almost invariably heard hyenas whooping and lions grunt-roaring across the floodplain.

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Nyerere National Park

Sand Rivers

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

Probably my favourite lodge in Nyerere National Park, Sand Rivers overlooks a wide, sandy bend in the Rufiji, Tanzania's largest river. The open-fronted stone-and-thatch suites here are simply stunning, and there's also a tempting freeform swimming pool set under a massive baobab tree. Whether you explore by boat, in a 4x4, or on foot, there's plenty of wildlife to be seen in the area, and the guides are exceptional. Aside from the exceptional river view, an appealing aspect of Sand River is that it stands some distance from any other camp and too deep into the park to be reached on day safaris from outside.

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Nyerere National Park

Roho ya Selous

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

Nyerere is Tanzania's largest national park, extending across 30,000-plus square kilometres, and it offers a more exclusive safari experience than the better-known Serengeti. A great base for exploring it is Roho ya Selous, which means ‘Heart of Selous’ in reference the park’s former name Selous Game Reserve. Set on the shore of Lake Nzerakera, Roho ya Selous consists of eight luxury standing tents spaced along a tract of evergreen waterside forest. The lodge stands in the heart of a rewarding wildlife-viewing circuit where you are sure to see plenty of elephant, buffalo and giraffe, and might well get lucky with lion and African wild dog. A highlight is boat trips on the lake, which is home to large numbers of hippo and plentiful waterbirds.

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Ruaha National Park

Jabali Ridge

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

The view from Jabali Ridge is unforgettable. Set on a rocky hill, this stylish boutique lodge offers sweeping vistas across the vast baobab-studded plains of Ruaha National Park and wide sandy arc of the seasonal Mwagusi River. The accommodation is every bit as memorable, comprising as it does eight luxurious cottages built into and around the large rounded granite boulders at the hill’s summit. Jabali Ridge is a superb base for game drives in Ruaha, a relatively off-the-beaten-track safari destination that ranks as Tanzania’s second-largest national park and one of the best for carnivores such as lion, leopard, cheetah and African wild dog. Night drives are often very rewarding and the cuisine is truly outstanding.

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Lake Natron

Lake Natron Camp

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

This extraordinary wilderness camp stands on the edge of the blinding white salt flats that enclose caustic Lake Natron. This starkly beautiful Rift Valley setting is dominated by the brooding presence of Ol Doinyo Lengai, one of the world's most active volcanoes. Tanzanian owner-managers Åke and Nangini Lindstrom have designed the camp to be low impact, and the spacious standing tents are shaded by camouflaged netting that helps keep the interior cool whilst reducing the visual impact. Lake Natron Camp stands on a Maasai concession, it only employs local Maasai people and it funds several community projects. Within the concession, you’ll find 120,000-year-old fossil human footprints and a spring-fed stream where you can swim while white-lipped tilapias nibble at your dead skin (a sensation I found oddly addictive once I got used to it).

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Serengeti National Park

Ndutu Safari Lodge

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

Wildlife photographers, filmmakers and big cat enthusiasts talk in hushed tones about Ndutu Safari Lodge. Founded in 1968 close to the seasonal lake for which it is named, this down-to-earth lodge offers access to a part of the Serengeti-Ngorongoro ecosystem famed for its high densities of carnivores. Ndutu is an excellent base for catching the wildebeest calving season in February, but large herds of grazers are usually present from December through to April, and there's good cat viewing all year round. It also remains one of the best value lodges in this part of the world, offering accommodation in 34 simple stone-and-thatch cottages with private verandas, and meals in a convivial thatched restaurant where I’ve often seen genets creep around the rafters at night.

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Serengeti National Park

Namiri Plains

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

Over the course of numerous safaris to the Serengeti over the past 30-odd years, few lodges have blown me away quite as much as Namiri Plains did on my most recent visit. This ultra-exclusive new lodge forms part of the highly-regarded Asilia chain and offers accommodation in ten spacious stone-and-canvas cottages decorated with local basketwork. For me, what really makes Namiri Plains special is that it reliably offers high quality cheetah and lion sightings in an corner of the Serengeti that's pleasingly remote from other lodges.

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Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

If there's one obvious drawback to Tanzania's most exclusive lodges, it’s that they tend to be priced out of the range of all but the deepest of pockets. So here’s a shout out to Serena, a long-serving East African hotel chain that runs a number of larger lodges which hit a popular sweet spot between comfort and affordability. Ngorongoro Serena ranks among the very best of these, with its centrally heated rooms and scenic location on the western crater rim. I often recommend this lodge to serious wildlife enthusiasts, because it is the closest option to the main descent road into the crater, making it particularly well suited to early morning game drives.

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Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Ngorongoro Crater Camp

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

The relatively chilly highland climate that characterises Ngorongoro Crater’s scenic rim means that most lodges there have a very indoorsy feel. An exception is Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp, which comprises 10 stilted standing tents set in an atmospheric forest of lichen-draped flat-top acacias. To be honest, I was a bit worried about the cold when I arrived here, but I needn’t have been: the tents are all equipped with gas heaters and electric blankets, and very snug at night. The camp’s location is perfect for game drives in the early morning, which is the best time to explore the crater

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Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs
Accommodation

The most sumptuous and exclusive lodge overlooking Ngorongoro Crater is also the oldest, having started life in the 1930s as a humble hunting lodge. Today the playful Maasai-meets-Versailles architecture and décor – a knowingly kitsch blend of classical, baroque, African and colonial influences – makes &Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge stand out as one of the most original and popular safari lodges anywhere in East Africa. What the lodge’s earliest gun-toting colonial patrons would make of all this tomfoolery is anybody’s guess. But – highland mist permitting – they would doubtless approve of the view over the world’s largest volcanic caldera, which remains every bit as spectacular as it was 100 years ago.

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Tanzania travel guides

The best places to see the wildebeest migration
Guide

The best places to see the wildebeest migration

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

Sometimes called ‘the greatest show on earth’, the wildebeest migration sees mega herds of almost two million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles continuously travel thousands of kilometres in a broadly clockwise direction from the southern Serengeti, north into Kenya’s Maasai Mara, and back again. The migration is one of Africa's classic safari experiences, drawing visitors year round to witness this magnificent spectacle.

The Best Time To See The Wildebeest Migration
Guide

The Best Time To See The Wildebeest Migration

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

By definition, the wildebeest migration is a continually moving and perpetually active phenomenon; where you go depends very much on when you decide to travel. A note on the "route" Beware any safari company that tells you they can guarantee the route the herds will take.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In January?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In January?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

A new year means new life, and the stage for the spectacle this month is around the Ndutu Plains in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the south of the Serengeti National Park.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In February?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In February?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

In February most of the migration action takes place in the Ndutu Plains, to the southwest of the Serengeti. Behold the classic image of endless plains, blanketed and dotted as far as the eye can see with grazing wildebeest and their newborn calves.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In March?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In March?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

After a long period of grazing in the Ndutu region, the once green grass is now over-grazed, with little left for the enlarged herd. The time to move on has come.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In April?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In April?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

Long rains mean thicker vegetation and scattered herds, which makes viewing more of a challenge. But the rewards of the low season are lower prices and few other people as the migration makes its way north and into ‘big cat territory’.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In May?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In May?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

The long rains taper off and the herds are on the move, heading north towards Kenya. Routes diverge somewhat, but they’ll all funnel through a narrow corridor between two rivers in a dramatic spectacle.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In June?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In June?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

The skies are clear, the land dries out, and the herds gain strength and power as the calves mature. But June is no walk in the park.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In July?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In July?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

July is primetime viewing for what many consider to be the main act of the migration theatrics – the crossing of the Mara River.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In August?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In August?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

Welcome to the height of the high season. Everyone has the same idea of witnessing the most action-packed month for river crossings.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In September?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In September?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

The September high season in Kenya’s Maasai Mara has its obvious rewards.The skies are sunny, crowds are thinning somewhat, dramatic river crossings are still going strong in Mara side with few crossing between Lamai and Kogatende, predators have hit their stride, and the ‘big five’ are all out in view.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In October?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In October?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

The end of the high season means the crowds have (mostly) gone.The migration is straddled between Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In November?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In November?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

In November the ‘short rains’ start to fall in the Mara.The plains return to their emerald green hue, and the migration is on the move southward, back to Tanzania’s Serengeti.

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In December?
Guide

Where Is The Wildebeest Migration In December?

Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya

The annual cycle of life is turning full circle.The rains have returned, and the wildebeest are on the move back toward the rich grasses of Ndutu.

What to do in Tanzania besides safari
Guide

What to do in Tanzania besides safari

Anthony Ham
Anthony Ham

If you're coming to Tanzania, chances are you'll be going on safari.

The time to move has come
Article

The time to move has come

Anthony Ham
Anthony Ham

Having spent the last decade searching out the best wildlife spectacles the planet has to offer, I thought I’d seen it all. But nothing could prepare me for the first time I laid eyes upon East Africa’s Great Wildebeest Migration.

The great migration faces extinction
Article

The great migration faces extinction

Dr Joseph Ogutu
Dr Joseph Ogutu

Migratory animals across the world are under threat from the impact of humans. In Kenya, fencing, settlements, farms and other developments are cutting off migratory routes and reducing wildebeest’s territory.

Decolonising African travel—and travel writing
Article

Decolonising African travel—and travel writing

Mazuba Kapambwe
Mazuba Kapambwe

Travel writing in Africa has always been an overwhelmingly white affair. Early accounts from 19th century explorers like Henry Morton Stanley and fiction writers like Joseph Conrad depicted Africa as uncivilised, mysterious and barbaric, reflecting the racist attitudes that underpinned European empire building.

The best safari in Tanzania
Guide

The best safari in Tanzania

Stuart Butler
Stuart Butler

Best for: Migration safaris & river crossings The big-ticket park is the 12,000-square-mile Serengeti, home to the great wildebeest migration and a healthy population of big cats: lions, leopards and cheetahs.

The Best Time For Safari In Tanzania
Guide

The Best Time For Safari In Tanzania

Heather Richardson
Heather Richardson

With the exception of the rainy months of March and April, Tanzania is a great safari destination through most of the year. The dry season – June to October – is the most popular and best for wildlife sightings, but January and February also see a break in the rains.

How to book a Tanzania safari
Guide

How to book a Tanzania safari

Heather Richardson
Heather Richardson

There's no denying it, a safari anywhere is an expensive trip – and a safari in Tanzania is at the pricier end of the spectrum.

Where To See The Big 5 In Africa
Guide

Where To See The Big 5 In Africa

Stuart Butler
Stuart Butler

The "Big 5" safari beasts – lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino – were so named because they were the prize targets of colonial-era hunters. Fortunately, modern safari has become a force for wildlife conservation not destruction, and today's safari-goer is more likely to be shooting with a camera than a rifle (aside from the many trophy hunting reserves, which we resolutely do not cover in this guide).

Trekking in Tanzania
Guide

Trekking in Tanzania

Stuart Butler
Stuart Butler

I’ve spent my career trekking and hiking in some pretty far-flung places, from Nepal to Norway.

Chimpanzee trekking
Guide

Chimpanzee trekking

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs

Chimp trekking runs throughout the year at most of the national parks and forest reserves described above. Hiking conditions are generally best in the dry season, which varies from region to region, but broadly falls over June to August and December to February in Uganda and Rwanda, and August to October in western Tanzania.

Being a responsible safari tourist
Article

Being a responsible safari tourist

David Blanton
David Blanton

Serengeti – ‘endless plain’ in the Maasai language; endlessly beautiful and in seemingly endless demand by modern tourism. That’s the Serengeti’s blessing, and its curse.

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Tanzania travel companies

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Places to go in Tanzania

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