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Tanzania

Chole Island

Chole Island is a tiny island which lies next to the slightly larger Mafia Island. The area has a fantastic history and there are many old ruins. The village of Chole is fascinating and friendly and visitors can spend many hours wandering around talking to the people and watching the boat builders.

Birdwatching is excellent on Chole Island and very different to the mainland parks. The tidal flats and mangroves are alive with coastal and sea birds and there are many colourful woodland and forest species. An additional wildlife attraction are the huge colonies of Fruit Bats which can be easilly seen on a walk round the village.

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Tanzania

Selous Reserve

The Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest fauna reserves of the world, located in the south of Tanzania. It was named after Englishman Sir Frederick Selous, a famous big game hunter and early conservationist, who died at Beho Beho in this territory in 1917 while fighting against the Germans during World War I. Scottish explorer and cartographer Keith Johnston also died at Beho Beho in 1879 while leading a RSGS expedition to the Great Lakes of Africa with Joseph Thomson. The Selous was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the diversity of its wildlife and undisturbed nature.

The reserve covers a total area of 54,600 km² (21,081 square miles), has additional buffer zones and no permanent human habitation or permanent structures are permitted. All (human) entry and exit is carefully controlled by the Tanzanian Game Dept. Some of the typical animals of the savanna (for example elephants, hippopotami, African Wild Dog cape buffalo and crocodiles) can be found in this park in larger numbers than in any other African game reserve or national park. The Selous is one of the last remaining pristine true wilderness areas in the world.

The area was first designated a protected area in 1896 by the German Governor Hermann von Wissmann and became a hunting reserve in 1905. Nowadays it also has a touristic importance, though most of it is rarely visited by humans. Presence of the Tsetse fly and very difficult road access discourage visitation; however, it is easily accessible by train or small aircraft from Dar es Salaam.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Tanzania

Flight to Tanzania

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Tanzania

Pemba

The island of Pemba known as ‘Al Jazeera Al Khadra’ (the green island, in Arabic) is an island forming part of the Zanzibar archipelago, lying off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is situated about 50 kilometres to the north of the island of Zanzibar. In the 1960s Zanzibar was united with the former colony of Tanganyika to form Tanzania. It lies 50 kilometres east of mainland Tanzania. Together with Mafia Island (south of Zanzibar), they form the Spice Islands (not to be confused with Maluku Islands of Indonesia). In 1988, the estimated population was 265,000, with an area of 980 km².

Most of the island, which is hillier and more fertile than Zanzibar, is dominated by small scale farming. There is large scale farming of cash crops such as cloves — there are over 3 million clove trees.

Pemba is also becoming well-known for its dive sites, with vertiginous drop-offs, untouched coral and very abundant marine life. The central town Chake-Chake is located on a hill with a view to the west on the bay and the tiny Misali island where the tides determine when a dhow can enter the harbour.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Tanzania

Misali

Lying west of Pemba’s Chake Chake town, this small island has some wonderful beaches with great diving and snorkelling just offshore. It is covered with verdant forest, which has several beautiful walking trails. There is also a visitor centre. Misali Island and it’s surrounding reef are now known as the Misali Island Marine Conservation Area.

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Tanzania

Zanzibar II

Zanzibar (pronounced /ˈzænzɨbɑr/) is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba. Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the Arab world; it united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964 and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic center, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.

Zanzibar’s main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania’s Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia). Zanzibar’s ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar Leopard.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Tanzania

Zanzibar I

Zanzibar (pronounced /ˈzænzɨbɑr/) is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba. Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the Arab world; it united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964 and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic center, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.

Zanzibar’s main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania’s Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia). Zanzibar’s ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar Leopard.

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)

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Tanzania

Ngorongoro

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area or NCA is a conservation area situated 180 km (112 miles) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The conservation area is administered by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, an arm of the Tanzanian government, and its boundaries follow the boundary of the Ngorongoro Division of Ngorongoro District. It covers an area of 8,288 km² (3,200 square miles) – about the size of Crete.

The main feature of the NCA is the Ngorongoro Crater, which is the world’s largest unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera. The Crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, is 610 m (2,001 ft) deep and its floor covers 260 km² (102 square miles). Estimates of the height of the original volcano range from fifteen to nineteen thousand feet (4500 to 5800 metres) high.

Although thought of as “a natural enclosure” for a very wide variety of wildlife, up to 20% or more of the wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) and half the zebra (Equus burchelli) populations vacate the Crater in the wet season. However, an effect of this ‘enclosure’ situation means that the population of Ngorongoro lions is severely inbred, with many genetic problems passed from generation to generation. This is due to the very small amount of new bloodlines that enter the local gene pool, with very few migrating male lions entering the crater from the outside. Animal populations in the crater include most of the species found in East Africa, but there are no impalas (Aepyceros melampus), topis (Damaliscus lunatus), oribis (Ourebia oribi), giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), or crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus).

Source: Wikipedia (under GNU Free Documentation License)