#68 best destination in the world
Mbudya Island
- Uninhabited island, and one of the four islands of the Dar es Salaam Marine Reserve
- The island lies close to the beach resort and fishing community of Kunduchi and is reachable by means of a 20-minute motorboat ride crossing from the mainland
Nakupenda Beach
- A small island which always goes under water in the second half of the day
Zanzibar Night Market
- After sunset, the heart of Zanzibar’s historic Stone Town neighborhood transforms into culinary heaven
- Dishes vary widely, from Zanzibari pizza, to falafel, sugar cane juice, samosas, coconut bread, seafood skewers (although debate persists pertaining to the actual freshness of the market’s pescatarian offerings), and crepes dripping with chocolate syrup
The Rock Restaurant (Michamvi Pingwe)
- Restaurant on Zanzibar Island, located on a rock in the Indian Ocean
- The restaurant is connected to the mainland by boat, within high tide, and reachable by foot within low tide
- Offers a fresh seafood menu, including vegetarian plates
Nungwi Beach
- #23 of the top 25 beaches in the world
Selous Game Reserve
- Some of the typical wildlife of the miombo inhabits the reserve, such as African bush elephant, black rhino, hippopotamus, lion, East African wild dog, Cape buffaloes, Masai giraffe, Plains zebra, and Nile crocodile
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
Kilwa Kisiwani
- Community on an Indian Ocean island off the southern coast of present-day Tanzania
- Historically, it was the center of the Kilwa Sultanate, a medieval sultanate whose authority at its height in the 13th-15th centuries AD stretched the entire length of the Swahili Coast
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Tanzanite Experience
- Museum to learn about the history and rarity of the precious gemstone Tanzanite, unique to Tanzania
- Offers interactive tours and visual exhibitions, including a replica of a Tanzanite mine shaft, visitors discover how tanzanite was created
Arusha Cultural Heritage Centre
- Museum where the past and present of the Tanzania’s 120 plus tribes can be viewed in a single place
- The centre boasts various carvings, gemstones, artifacts, clothing and books
Kilimanjaro National Park
- Park that includes the whole of Mount Kilimanjaro above the tree line and the surrounding montane forest belt
- #12 of the top 25 national parks in the world
- Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain in the world, with its summit of 19,341 ft above sea level
- The first people known to have reached the summit of the mountain was in 1889
- Because of its shrinking glaciers and disappearing ice fields, the mountain has been the subject of many scientific studies
Tarangire National Park
- #14 of the top 25 national parks in the world
- The Tarangire River is the primary source of fresh water for wild animals in the Tarangire Ecosystem during the annual dry season
- The Tarangire Ecosystem is defined by the long-distance migration of wildebeest and zebras
- During the dry season thousands of animals concentrate in Tarangire National Park from the surrounding wet-season dispersal and calving areas
- Landscape is composed of granitic ridges, river valley, and swamps
- Vegetation is a mix of Acacia woodland, Combretum woodland, seasonally flooded grassland, and baobab trees
Lake Natron
- Salt or soda lake within the Lake Natron Basin, a wetland of international significance
- Numerous near-white salt-crust “rafts” pepper the shallowest parts of the lake
- The lake is fed by mineral-rich hot springs
- It is quite shallow, less than 9.8 ft deep
- The lake is 35 miles long
- Temperatures at the lake are frequently above 104 °F
- High levels of evaporation have left behind natron and trona
- Formed during the Ice Age
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
- Named after the large volcanic caldera within the region
- One of the world’s most unchanged wildlife sanctuaries
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
Ol Doinyo Lengai
- Active volcano and it uniquely produces natrocarbonatite lava
- The 1960 eruption of Ol Doinyo Lengai led to geological investigations that finally confirmed the view that carbonatite rock is derived from magma
- Its last eruption was in 2019
Serengeti National Park
- #1 of the top 25 national parks in the world
- Park well known for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white-bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra and for its numerous Nile crocodile and honey badger
- The migration is the largest remaining unaltered animal migration
Costs
Number of Days: 28 days
Best Time To Fly: July-Oct
Airline ticket: $1,330
Seattle -> Dar es Salaam (round trip) $1,172
Dar es Salaam -> Zanzibar City (round trip) $66
Dar es Salaam -> Arusha (round trip) $92
Food: $9/day x 28 days = $252
Entertainment/tours: $934
Airbnb/hotel: $44/day x 26 days = $1,144
TOTAL: $3,660