Tanzania
Tanzania is a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time. That finally happened in 2019 and we were quite impressed. We stayed mostly in resorts in the National Parks in the northern part of the country, first visiting Lake Manyara National Park, then traveling to the amazing Serengeti National Park before moving on to Ngorongoro National Park & Conservation Area. We then finished at Tanangire National Park. The animals did move north a month earlier than normal, due to global warming, and that had an impact on the number of animals we observed. However, we still noted quite a few animals and we saw a lot of babies, which was a positive sign. Tanzania is dealing with its pollution problems better than Kenya, and their roads are in decent shape, but their neighbors face challenges that requires the country to stay increasingly diligent.
The history of Tanzania is similar to that of Kenya. Humans have been in East Africa for well over 100,000 years as the Rift Valley is believed to be the origin of humanity. Recent native populations include a mix of native peoples, Bantu peoples from south and central Africa, and coastal civilizations from Zanzibar. Arab traders were common the coastal areas of Tanzania and it is their influence that helped create the Swahili language, which is a mixture of Bantu and Arabic words. The Portuguese first arrived in 1498 and they controlled trade until the Omani Empire gained control in the 1600's. In the mid 1800's influence shifted to the Germans who established Tanzania as a German colony. After World War I, the British took over the colony. Tanzania received its independence from Britain in 1961. Julius Nyerere was elected the countries first Prime Minister and under him Tanzania became a one party state. That continued until 1992. Currently the country is a democracy.





Lake Manyara National Park


Serengeti National Park 2019
More Serengeti National Park


Ngorongoro National Park 2019



Tarangire National Park 2019