The endless plains of Serengeti

Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park, also a world heritage site and recently proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder, For more details visit here

"The Serengeti Of Flowers" - Kitulo National Park

Locals refer to the Kitulo Plateau as Bustani ya Mungu - The Garden of God – while botanists have dubbed it the Serengeti of Flowers, host to ‘one of the great floral spectacles of the world’. And Kitulo is indeed a rare botanical marvel, home to a full 350 species of vascular plants, including 45 varieties of terrestrial orchid, which erupt into a riotous wildflower display of breathtaking scale and diversity during the main rainy season of late November to April

More details visit here

Fundu Lagoon - Pemba Island

Fundu is a remote and peaceful resort, only accessible by boat. Set on a beautiful beach in the south west of Pemba Island, it is privately owned and run with a love for the natural environment that surrounds it; the epitome of shabby chic - stylish, cosseting and totally relaxed.

For more details visit here..

Arusha "Geneva of Africa"

Tucked at the foot of Mount Meru, the town of Arusha is the first stop on the northern safari circuit and is the undisputed safari capital of East Africa.

The streets of this vibrant town are filled with 4x4 game viewing vehicles criss-crossing the potholed roads. Maasai warriors in full regalia walk around, mingling with tourists in crisp khaki, fresh off the plane from Europe or the United States.

If you're flying in on a pre-organized safari, you are unlikely to spend much time in Arusha, as your hosts will whisk you through on the way to one of the great game parks. This is a pity, because Arusha is the kind of place where you can get a real sense of what modern Africa is all about.

At the nearby International Conference Centre, some of the most important peace treaties and international agreements in modern African history have been signed. The Rwandan war crimes tribunals are currently taking place here, as have been several attempts to broker peace in the Great Lakes States.

Around town

The curio markets crammed between the Clock Tower and India Road are filled with high quality crafts, and are a great deal cheaper than the purpose-built curio shops outside of town to which most tour guides take you. A friendly warning - beware of pickpockets in the busy streets.

For independent travellers, the offices of the National Parks authority in the International Conference Centre is a good place to pick up literature and maps, and to find out details of entry to the parks. The coffee-growing town of Moshi is the nearest town to the trailheads onKilimanjaro, although most travellers do their outfitting and organising in Arusha.

For birders, anglers and primate lovers with a bit of time on their hands, Lake Duluti, on the Moshi road, is one of Africa's hidden gems. There's a campsite and small, rudimentary pub, and it is a classic place to while away a lazy afternoon.

Tanzania Tarangire National Park Set to Expand

Negotiations with several villages surrounding the Tanzania Tarangire National Park has resulted in at least three of the villages agreeing to re-demarcate the boundaries, relocate and give their land to the park in order to make it possible for  Tarangire to be enlarged.
Following the expansion process, the park will incorporate a major forest, which is expected to not only provide extra protection to the area, but also to act as a new feature that will attract future visitors to the park.

In general, the Tanzania tourism sector relies heavily on its wildlife, beaches and other natural attractions such as Mt. Kilimanjaro

According to a recently published report by Global Travel Industry News, the unique features of the park already help to attract visitors to the country who embark on a safari across the northern circuit.

“The park, while admittedly less popular with overseas visitors compared to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, and the Serengeti, is nevertheless thought to be a must-see stop for all tourists embarking on their safari across the northern circuit due to its unique features,” read the report.

Currently, the Tarangire National Park is most widely known for the thousands of baobab trees that grow within its boundaries as well as for its general game population and large herds of elephant.
According to an announcement by government officials earlier this month, the arrival of tourists to Tanzania fell by 10.2 percent, from 641,951 in 2008 to 576,643 in 2009, for a period covering the first 10 months of each year.

Government officials went on to explain that this drop came as a result of the effects of the global economic crisis, with the most significant drop occurring in the first six months of the year, after which time the arrival rate began to improve.

Full-year figures for 2008 reported that the Tanzania tourism sector earned a total of USD 1.3 billion.

While awaiting the release of the 2009 full-year arrivals and earnings, which is scheduled to take place next month, some tour and safari operators have already requested that changes be made to the current system of paying for park entrance fees, which was introduced in 2007 by Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) in the country’s northern circuit in an effort to respond to the fraudulent practices that had been reported at the various gates.

Based on the newly established Tanapa system, banks in the northern circuit that are participating in the scheme established both cash and card machines in order to accommodate cashless payments.

While the system was originally welcomed by tour and safari operators who were looking to avoid the loss of cash, issues soon began to surface concerning how the system works.

Global Travel Industry News reported that the majority of the complaints are currently concerned with the use of MasterCard.

“The complaints are apparently focused on the use of MasterCard payments,” read the report, “which operators claim often remain unpaid by the bank yet they (the operators) have provided services and made payments on behalf of their clients, who, by the time the dispute arises, have already returned home.”

TANZANIA TOURIST BOARD READY TO PENETRATE IN BRAZIRIAN TOURIST MARKET

Tanzania Tourist Board is set to cooperate with Brazilian media houses to market and promote destination Tanzania in Brazil so as to tap on this country which can be a good source market of tourists for Tanzania due to her huge population.
Speaking during the dinner reception prepared by Pongo Safaris at Moevenpick Royal Palm Hotel in Dar es salaam in honor of the expedition team which was in the country on their way to South Africa, the Managing Director of Tanzania Tourist Board Dr Aloyce Nzuki noted that Brazil whose population is about 400 million people is a country that Tanzania need to focus on as one of the potential tourists market. “To start with if we can manage to attract at least one percent of the population of your country it would be a wonderful inception.
The remarks were made in respond to the ambassador of Brazil in Tanzania H.E Francisco Carlos Soares Luz’s appeal to Tanzania Tourist Board to consider introducing marketing and promotional campaign in Brazil. He cited Mt. Kilimanjaro as one of the Tanzania tourist’s icon that can attract the majority of travelers from Brazil if TTB can launch a deliberate sensitization campaign to this country.
Tanzania Tourist Board in collaboration with Pongo Safaris recently coordinated the Lights of Africa Media Expeditions in Tanzania which comprised of two journalists led by Mr Haroldo Castro, a veteran journalist and photographer specialized in nature and conservation, the other one is Mr Mikael Castro who is an anthropologist and ecotourism specialist.
During their expedition in Tanzania the journalists visited Serengeti National parks, Ngorongoro crater, Selous game reserve and Ruaha and then cross the border to Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa for the coverage of world cup tournament. While in Tanzania the journalists were feeding Brazilian Media organizations with stories on abundant tourists attractions Tanzania is endowed with, including a a bi-weekly column on EPOCA Magazine , bi-weekly English column on www.lightsofarica.com, EP and Global Televisions in Brazil
According to the available statistics Tanzania receives an average of 666 tourists from Brazil every year

Do's and Don'ts: Tanzania safaris

• Do read all you can about the safari experience before planning your trip. Your appreciation of the animals and culture will be greatly enhanced.
• Do plan to use a tour operator. Tanzanian regulations discourage "do it yourself" safaris. There are tour operators for every budget.
• Do be sure to ascertain exactly what is covered in a quoted fee such as airport transfers, use of their camping equipment, park entry fees, camping fees etc.
• Do be aware that a safari can be quite hectic. The smaller your group, the more flexibility you will have in setting your own pace.
• Do allow for the unexpected such as problems with your vehicle, changes in the weather and bugs. These are unavoidable so try to maintain a sense of humor.
• Do be generous with your tips. Many that serve you are hired by the job and their compensation is always low.

Tanzania

">

Precision Air to extend wings abroad

Precision Air, a vibrant local private airline, envisages adding some international routes for it to realise its dream of becoming one of the biggest aviation companies in sub-Saharan Africa.  The airline will begin extending its wings  to most of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Commission (SADC) member countries,  the airline’s chairman, Mr Michael Shirima, said.

The airline currently boasts of flying to Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya and to Entebbe in Uganda daily in addition to 12 local destinations.

Mr Shirima said the routes would expand hand in hand with the beefing up of local ownership of the airline whose shares would in the near future be up for grab at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).  He said the airline would see its local ownership rising to 66 per cent as opposed to the present local ownership of 51.  Mr Shirima said 15 per cent of the 49 per cent shares currently belonging to Kenya Airways would go to members of the public interested in investing in the airline with a promising future.   “The airline is proud of being among few  nascent African aviation firms operating  fleets of aircraft to provide safe, comfortable, fast and reliable aviation services,” he said. 

Precision Air dates back to 16 years ago when it acquired a five-seater charter plane, which was abandoned at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam for over a decade.  The airline had successfully repaired the charter plane to regain before it bought a second airworthy charter plane from another firm.  The firm has since then been tremendously growing to the extent of attracting a $129 million worth of a deal, which Precision Air signed with a French aircraft manufacturer,   Avions de Transport Régional - ATR,  in 2006 for the former to purchase seven aircrafts.     ATR has delivered five aircrafts and is expected to deliver the remaining two before the end of this year.

Precision Air, according to Mr Shirima, has so far employed 580 workers mostly being Tanzanians. Hardly one per cent of the airline workers currently are expatriates, he said.  The number of passengers and cargo too had tremendously been shooting  in tandem with the increasing number of destinations.  

    Precision Air is currently plying between Dar es Salaam and other local destinations namely Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Kigoma, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga and Mtwara regions.   Mr Shirima said the airline's marriage with Kenya Airways was compounded by the recent business trend in the airline industry, which called for  partnership, merger, code shares and alliances, citing Sky Team, Star and One World as typical examples.  

Ministers call on ATA members to support association

Africa Travel Association (ATA) members have been asked to support the association’s Board of Directors in raising sufficient funds to market the continent as a tourist destination.

The request was made recently by the Gambian Minister of Tourism and Culture, Fatou Mass Jobe-Njie, after her election as new ATA president at the association’s just-ended 35th Annual Congress held at Banjul.

She succeeds Tanzanian Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Shamsa Mwangunga, who was appointed ATA president in May 2008 at the 33rd Annual Congress in Arusha.

Speaking to ATA delegates, at the closing session, Jobe-Njie outlined three areas of priority for ATA members in order to meet the intended goals during her presidency.

She noted that as ATA's members “we need to help the Board of Directors to raise sufficient funds to carry out the socuiety’s programmes; we have to be very aggressive in the membership drive; and make sure that the members actively participate in the association.”

To accomplish the goals, she asked for “the members support and the stakeholders of tourism in Africa so that we can meet the intended goals”.

Highlighting the importance of tourism as an engine for economic growth and prosperity, she said that due to that aspect ATA members needed to join their efforts with and work in partnership with members of the public to promote the travel and tourism industry to and within Africa.

“As Gambia we are very glad to host this event and hopes that our infectious spirit will inspire other countries and tourism stakeholders to take action,” she said.

For his part, ATA's Executive Director Edward Bergman, said the association’s members, friends and supporters have shown that “we are truly committed to promote tourism to Africa as a means to forstering socio-economic development,”

“I know that when we go back to our home countries, we will continue to work in partnership with tourism stakeholders in the public and private sectors to promote the industry and inspire others to follow our example,” Bergman said.

Also during the on-going congress, ATA announced a number of milestones for making a strong case for increased investment in Africa’s tourism industry. They include the launch of a joint effort by New York University’s Africa House and the World Bank and ATA to make a case for developing Africa’s tourism industry with the preparation of the joint publication—the State of Tourism in Africa. Using facts, figures and stories, the report paints a picture of the current and potential impact of tourism on both a country’s and a region’s development strategy.

The report also advocates for increased attention and resource allocation from national governments to the tourism industry.

Apart from that the Gambia Organising Committee announced its commitment to hosting the first “Carbon Off-Set Free” ATA congress.

During the industry workshops and networking events, ATA and UNWTO engaged in discussions on how the two global organizations would pursue collaboration and cooperation in the areas of travel and tourism development in Africa in the future.

In what has become an ATA congress tradition over the last few years, Mwangunga hosted a special evening of dinner and dancing.