Naturalists have written volumes in praise of the pristine beauty of Tanzania and the need to preserve the game sanctuaries, and the historical sites, some dating as far back as two million years ago. With over a quarter of its total area of 937,000 sq km set aside for game parks and reserves, Tanzania boasts some of the finest wildlife sanctuaries in the world. Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mikumi, Ruaha and the Selous are the ultimate sites commonly appearing in safari plans.
There are other areas of stunning beauty like the Mkomazi Game Reserve, Amboni Caves, the National Parks of Udzungwa Mountains, Katavi, Mahale and Gombe Stream, which rarely feature in safari itineraries. This is simply because the infrastructure and facilities in those areas are not as developed.
These are the safari sites of the future, and Tanzania has many such virgin nature reserves. Tanzania is a melange of different cultures, emanating from the interaction of the early visitors on the East African coast with the local population. These include the native Bushmen who inhabited the Great Rift Valley with their intriguing rock paintings in Kondoa Irangi, the Nilo Hamitics and Bantu tribes, the early far east traders from China and India, the Arabs from the Persian Gulf, the Portuguese explorers, and more recently the Germans and the British.