From the first moment you set foot on the land of Tanzania, which extends between the edges of the Indian Ocean and the mountaintops of East Africa, you feel that you have entered another space, a space filled with magic mixed with nature, literature, and history.
In Tanzania, everything is peaceful: the sounds of loud drums juxtapose with the eerie silence of the mountains, and the scent of Zanzibar spices mixes with the salt of the ocean. The visitor here needs to contemplate more than wandering.
Meditation leads him to realize that sunrise and sunset on the banks of the ocean are nothing but poetry verses narrated by the equator sun thousands of years ago, and that traveling between mountains and coasts is other verses narrated by the duality of love inherited between the plains and the plateaus.
Every trip through the savannah forests or in the stone alleys of Zanzibar turns into the titles of poems about tourism, reading, and lounging.
Thus, the whole journey becomes a long poem whose title is the magic of Tanzania and whose theme is both nature and man.
When dream meets nature
A visitor to Tanzania is like a reader of an interesting book whose pages and chapters never end. In Tanzania Open Book there are different colours, smells and sounds.
The forest page is vibrant with life in every tree, branch and fruit, and the birds’ nests hanging in the branches and the chirping of birds that resemble ancient psalms are another life for those with sensitive feelings, for the springs of poetry, novels and different colors of literature to burst forth.
As for the sea, it is a wide page that forms a blue painting that embraces the sky. The beaches in that painting are danced by the waves, so you hear a melody that mimics a piece that does not tire of time. The plains extending without horizons are another page like a poem without an ending.
Ancient cities are the footnotes of the book Tanzania is full of stories: the stone city in Zanzibar hears the footsteps of sailors and merchants, and the markets of Dar es Salaam are the history of the Indian Sea with the scent of its spices for centuries.
What will most draw you to love Tanzania are those smiling brown faces, which are not just passing features but keys to the hearts of Tanzanians full of rare human warmth. Each laugh is a sign of welcome accompanied by the most famous phrase in the Swahili language: Karibu (you are welcome).
Another aspect of welcome is the way people look at you when you do not understand their language, so you get the feeling that travel, before it becomes a distance, is an encounter and affection.
If you begin your arrival to Tanzania with these aesthetic dimensions, you are not a passing traveler, but rather a witness to the chapters of a novel written by people and nature before your eyes.
Safari in the Great Plains
Along the savannas, and in the heart of Tanzania in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Lomasi, the safari begins. On this journey, the traveler becomes part of the scenes that are repeated every moment, not just a spectator of them. You will see waves of herds of zebras, and a stray gazelle hopping lightly while a lion lurks behind it.
At dawn, before the sun sends its rays, the distant roar of elephants pierces your hearing. At night, you can’t help but listen to the sound of the hyenas in awe and enjoyment. If you happen to be lying down and contemplating the twinkling of the stars above your head while hearing those sounds, you will feel that you have returned to the time of the deserts, before the times of cities and walls.
Mount Kilimanjaro…the crown of Africa
From an altitude of approximately 6,000 metres, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro appears like a white crown towering over the continent of Africa. At that summit, cold and light combine as a divine miracle that God has deposited a hidden secret that hordes of visitors are trying to discover.
Kilimanjaro is more of a legend than a mountain. Every step towards its summit makes you ease the weight of daily life to reach your true self at the summit, when you see sprawling forests, sparkling lakes, and plains extending to infinity.
Coasts and islands.. Zanzibar and its sisters
The power of Tanzania is not complete without the presence of its coasts. The streets of Zanzibar enchant you with the scents of ancient spices: cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and black pepper.
The narrow alleys that house the old stone markets are like footnotes on the travelogue of the Zanzibari camels written by sailors and merchants, especially the Busaidis among them.
What is most heard in Zanzibar is the sound of the turquoise waters on the ocean shores, whispering to everyone who approaches: Come. These beaches are a liquid mirror that reflects the blue and clarity of the sky. The islands scattered on the surface of the ocean are an opportunity for beautiful solitude where you, the sea and the wind. Some of them give you the opportunity to dive among coral reefs and colorful fish.
Literature.. Voices of Tanzania
The sweetness and elegance of the Swahili language makes you feel that the residents are speaking poetry. It is not only the landscapes that amaze you, but also the texts and stories sung by voices and drums.
In the old markets, you hear stories as if they were hastily told poems, and in remote villages you are drawn to the storyteller’s fire, and around him the children listen reverently.
Tanzanian literature written in Swahili moves between land and sea, between plain and mountain. It perpetuates legends of courage and perseverance, makes rain a symbol of life, winds an opportunity for dialogue with the unseen, and the roar of the ocean an indication of the arrival of ships.
Modernity entered Tanzanian literature, but it did not enter into conflict with tradition, but rather in harmony that preserved the spirit and urged the steps towards the future.
Travel…unforgettable roads
Dar es Salaam airport and the ports of Tanzania are not lines on a map, but entrances to places that time has not yet reached. Dirt roads lead you to small villages, to a fisherman who tells the secrets of the sea, or a shepherd who teaches you about the stars of guidance. Walking on these roads reveals that the road itself is another destination for travel.
Activities not to be missed
Among the unmissable activities in Tanzania is diving on the islands of Pemba and Mafia, where coral reefs sparkle with bright colors and schools of dancing fish surround you in a scene that captivates the senses.
Then comes a visit to the Ngorongoro Reserve, a paradise that was born from the crater of an ancient volcano and transformed into a natural painting that embraces meadows, lakes and wildlife in amazing harmony.
In the Gombe Forest, the chimpanzee kingdom studied by scientist Jane Goodall, the visitor discovers the secrets of the deep relationship between man and nature.
As for popular festivals, they are the rhythm of the earth and the human voice, where drums combine with dances to make daily life a celebration of existence itself.
The scene is completed by walking around Dar es Salaam, a city that alternates between its mornings full of light and movement and its evenings filled with Swahili melodies flowing on the banks of the sea.
Tanzania… between dream and wakefulness
When you return from Tanzania, you will have brought with you colors of beauty in a poem woven together by nature and people. You will know that true travel is not about the place, but about the stories it creates.
Tanzania is not a stop to add to your travel history, but a state to be lived.
There, between the mountains, the sea, and the savannah, you learn that the world is wider than maps, and that there is still room for wonder in the universe.