Discovering Tanzania - off the well worn trail

Tanzania is an incredible and immense land offering spectacular game parks, a stunning coastline including the Zanzibar archipelago as well as mountains, vast lakes and rainforest. To ensure you the best safari package Africa has to offer and the best safari itinerary your hard earned money can buy involves a little planning. The more effort you put up front the better the adventure. It is imperative to look at the itinerary you are offered and to ensure that included in this itinerary are some of the other wonders Tanzania has to offer outside the National Parks. The fauna and flora the people and everyday life in Tanzania is all part of the adventure; it is all a part of what is on offer.

The adventure is not all found in the National Parks - for example the African violet was discovered in the Usambara Mountains and they are still there to this day waiting to be rediscovered by you. Brightly colored spices, tropical fruit and fabrics in small village markets,ting tinga art along the Swahili Coast and the warm crystal clear waters of Zanzibar are all potentially part of your safari.

The Usambara Mountains are not too far off the beaten track and en-route from Kilimanjaro to the Swahili Coast. Any tour operator worth their salt can organize this excursion to your itinerary. Usambara offers small,comfortable hotels and the whole experience will add depth, adventure and cultural knowledge to the safari experience. Someone I know from England visited this area in 2008 - and was so impressed he sold his house and relocated to the Usambara mountains to set up a school.

Visiting Tanzania in low season can help reduce the cost of a safari - low season means cheaper airfare in less crowded aircraft - cheaper hotel rates and less tourists! Low season in May, June and the beginning of July is the wet season - the 'long rains'. However, it has been know it to rain more in December and January than for the whole of the so called wet season. It is cooler in low season too,which is not a bad thing as November to March is unbearably hot.

As being green and being fair trade is high on any tour operators' itinerary - keep this in mind whilst on safari. Rather not buy your curios from a shop in town as the middle men make all the profit. Rather pay directly to the people who produce the curios,a good driver/guide will be able to organize this for you.

As Tanzania is so vast it is tempting to cover as many areas as possible in the short time you are on holiday. This is usually a mistake resulting in your back and endurance ebbing away quickly. Your safari will quickly become a journey of torture and an ordeal to be ended at any cost. Slowly -slowly is the best way to see and experience more of Tanzania. To see all this great country has to offer just cannot be done in one trip.

The people of Tanzania are a polite and welcoming; the guest is valued and honored. It is expected you offer the same courtesies in return. The culture is a part of the safari experience that is unavoidable and often overlooked. You simply cannot get away from it as you will meet Tanzanian people wherever you go. Take some trouble to learn a few words in Swahili as it will make your adventure more enjoyable. The people of Tanzania have it in their power to lift your experience to altogether higher plain; embrace it.

How to book a safari that will meet your needs? I would suggest booking through a tour operator [stationed in Tanzania] directly. There are many who operate to fair-trade standards. There are recommended by the Tanzanian Tourist Board directory and also sites on the internet where people freely share their experiences can help you choose the operator to suit your needs. Enjoy planning your safari and enjoy Tanzania - safari njema!