| With an area of over 364,000 square miles, Tanzania's tourism industry has immense potential. Natural attractions include spectacular scenery, historical and archaeological sites (e.g. the Olduvai Gorge), parks teeming with varieties of wildlife, unpolluted beaches, and the rich cultures of over 120 ethnic groups.
The southern and northern highlands boast a number of impressive mountain ranges, typically rising 500m to 1,000m above their surroundings. Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru in the northeast are ancient volcanoes rising to 5,895m and 4,500m respectively. The relief is characterised by the equatorial to Arctic vegetation, savannah grassland, semi-arid to arid, semi-desert, temperate, moorland, alpine desert to the permanent snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro .
The coastline is over 804km long with the nearby islands of Unguja (also known as Zanzibar ), Pemba and Mafia. These islands offer an array of natural, cultural, historical and archeological attractions. Other natural resources are Lake Victoria , the world's second largest lake and source of the famous Nile River. In the many game parks and reserves, wildlife roam about freely.
The wildlife resources are among the finest in the world. They include, in the north the Serengeti plains, the Ngorongoro Crater, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Lake Manyara. In the south, the Selous Game Reserve, Mikumi, Ruaha, Gombe Stream, Mahale Mountains and Katavi national parks, and Ugalla Complex.
The most popular tourist attractions are" The Serengeti , Ngorongoro Crater, The Olduvai Gorge, Kilimanjaro Mountains, Lake Manyara and other sites commonly known as Tanzania's Northern Circuit. |
