Dig below the heat and dust, and Tanzania will take your breath away-literally if you dare to climb Kilimanjaro. The Great Rift Valley. Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Victoria, the Serengeti and Zanzibar are legendary. Fearless explorers, proud warriors and mighty beasts have roamed across this unassuming land, but history and politics have not always been kind and successive self-serving rulers have left their mark. Crumbling facades reflect the crumbling economy, and today Tanzania is a fascinating land of eclectic contradictions, remaining faithful to its heritage while bravely struggling to adapt to the present.

Late June to October-or before 1498, when the first European arrived

Conquering altitude, cold and fatigue on Kilimanjaro Rediscovering some of the world’s oldest hominid fossils Wandering lost in the alleys and mayhem of Zanzibar’s Stone Town Basking in a superb Serengeti sunset Succumbing to the bating drums on a steamy African night Forgetting time under the billowing sail of an ancient dhow Seeing the mass migration of wildebeest

Read Emily Said-Ruete’s Memoirs of an Arabian princess-an autobiographical glimpse into the of a Zanzibari princess who eloped to Europe

Listen to Music from Tanzania-Zanzibar, Vol 2 by various artists-a reflection of Zanzibar’s Afab culture
Watch the spectacular lMAX documentary Kilimanjaro-To the Roof of Africa directed by David Breashears

Eat pilau (a tasty meat and rice dish full of the Spice lsland’s aromatic produce) or ugali (a bland staple made from maize or cassava flour, eaten with a sauce)

Drink konyagi-a potent white-rum-style drink

Hakuna matata (no worries, not a problem)

Cunning baboons; mosquito nets; the Big Five; fragrant spices; Arabian palaces; wildlife safaris; endless dusty plains; traditional Maasai; grinning childrean; white beaches

Some local buses don’t break down; large bottoms are considered beautiful

The word mzungu, meaning ‘white person’-and beloved of screeching urchins all over East Africa-was coined in the early European explorers. lf comes from the Kiswahili verb kuzunguka: ‘to wander around aimlessly, like a mad person.’ The Swahili word for a hangover kuzungu-zungu (‘my head’s going round and round’) comes from the same root. Travellers wandering around aimlessly and nursing hangovers? Not much has changed…