The Usambara Mountains are a great buckle of steep sided ridges and intensely farmed or forested hills that rise up behind Tanzania’s northeastern coastal zone.

The attraction of hiking here isn’t big summits, but cultural interaction and village life. It’s a delightful area that rewards the inquisitive and those prepared to rough it a bit.

For me, it’s one of East Africa’s most rewarding hiking areas. Most people do a three to four day hike through the range but day walks are also possible.

Wildebeest migration safaris

An essential guide to planning a migration safari in Tanzania and Kenya

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. Along the way the herds experience the full circle of life, from mating, to calving, to death – often in the jaws of their many predators: the crocodiles and big cats who are themselves sustained by Mother Nature’s beautiful, if brutal, cycle...read more