Tanzania | Big Five Explorer

Tanzania eyes tourists during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Africa

January 25th, 2010 | Zanzibar Tanzania

Tanzania is preparing to cash in on the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa by inviting participating teams to use its Chinese-built modern stadium here for warm-up games.

President Jakaya Kikwete has set up a five-member ministerial committee to spear head the country’s ambition with the goal of publicizing Tanzania as a preferred tourism and investment destination.

“We are well prepared and our strategies are so far on the right track. We expect several teams to camp and play friendly matches in the country and an influx of fans coming to the Southern Africa region to cheer their teams in the period leading to the World Cup,” Shukuru Kawambwa, chair of the presidential committee and Infrastructure Development Minister told journalists here.

He said that the Tanzanian government, in cooperation with the private sector, had raised approximately US$5.8 million for marketing the country through various world media including channels of SuperSport, BBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Voice of America and Deutsche Welle.

“We have already initiated efforts to market Tanzania across the globe as an ideal country for teams to camp ahead of the World Cup. We believe that fans heading to South Africa will also wish to visit our tourist sites,” Kawambwa said, affirming that security for all was guaranteed.

A representative of Tourism Working Group under the presidential committee, Nicola Colangelo said hotels in the country were ready to receive extra guests heading to South Africa.

Other ministers on the committee are Shamsa Mwangunga for Tourism, Lawrence Masha for Home Affairs, which is responsible for internal security and immigration, Joel Bendera for Information, Culture and Sport and Jeremiah Sumar for Finance and Economic Affairs.

Meanwhile, Tanzania Football Federation president Leodegar Tenga said at least two teams of the World Cup finalists were expected to set up training camps in the country.

He did not mention the teams but said that the Federation had been in touch with football officials in Germany, Denmark, Italy and Netherlands. It has also discussed the matter with Asian football leaders in Japan, Australia, South Korea and North Korea as well as Paraguay and Brazil in South America.

He said contacts had also been made with five of the six African countries that have qualified for the finals, namely Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria. The finals are due to kick off on 10 June 2010.

Other South African neighboring countries, including Zimbabwe and Angola, are working hard to convince teams to camp in their countries during the global football extravaganza while attracting tourists to stay in there.

Source: eTurbo News (http://www.eturbonews.com/14022/tanzania-eyes-tourists-during-2010-fifa-world-cup-africa)

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Selous River Boat Safari

January 10th, 2010 | Zanzibar Tanzania

During your stay at the Selous Riverside Camp in Tanzania, you will be able to take a river boat safari. Your two and a half hour tour starts from the the mooring at the Selous Riverside Camp on the banks of the Rufiji river. The safari boat can take around 20 passengers along with two members of staff. The cruise starts by heading against the current in a westerly direction. The journey always starts against the current so in case the boat suffers any mechanical problems, it can get you back to the camp. Almost immediately, we were bird watching. The high sides of the river bank are pot-marked with little nesting holes of the Bee-eaters. Several varieties of these colourful little birds are found in abundance in the area. They get their name from the fact that they catch and eat bees, along with other flying insects. When they’ve caught one, the bee-eater will perch themselves on a nearby branch and start to hit the bee against the tree. It does this so as to remove the sting which is still a threat to the Bee-Eater. Once removed, the bee is eaten and the hunt resumes for the next meal. Various species of Kingfisher are also to be found in abundance including the Pied, Grey-Headed,Malekite and Giant Kingfishers. Despite their position, the Bee-eaters nests do come under threat from the Nile Monitors which hunt for their eggs. They aren’t the only reptiles to be seen on the river banks as crocodiles can often be seen sunning themselves. We only saw little crocodiles but that doesn’t mean the bigger ones aren’t around. The Rufiji River is also home to the most dangerous animal in Africa, the hippo. These seemingly gentle giants spend much of the day in the water keeping cool and venture onto land at night. These giants are capable of covering huge distances at night in search of food before heading back to the water. You can see signs of their activities by their footprints during your daytime game drives. However, it is wise to be wary of hippo as they kill more people than any other animal in Africa. This part of the Rufiji River is outside the Selous Game Reserve to people live in the area and you can see them down by the river washing clothes. Wading birds are also found up and down the river and we also saw Golden Weaver birds building their nests amongst the reeds. On higher parts of the bank, you can often see monkeys playing in the trees and it is a very pleasant relaxing way to watch African wildlife as you cruise slowly up the river. After a couple of hours, we turned round and headed back towards camp. As the sun started to set and for those who have been there, you will know there is nothing quite like an African sunset. Back at camp, there was time to get a shower before dinner. River safaris are offered by most if not all the camps in the Selous Game Reserve and are thoroughly enjoyable.

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Game Drive in Selous

January 6th, 2010 | Zanzibar Tanzania

The Selous National Park in Tanzania is the largest protected area of it’s kind in Africa. Covering an area the size of Belgium, Selous is a UNESO World Heritage Site. Running through Selous is the Rufiji River and it is along its banks that many of the safari camps of Selous are located. The river is fed by lakes and lagoons all of which are focal points for safaris in Selous.

Most of the safari camps in and around Selous Game Reserve offer their guests of choices of three types of safari; game drives, boat safaris and walking safaris. Boat and walking safaris are both excellent options but it is the traditional game drives that are most popular.

Open safari vehicles are driven by an experienced guide who points out various animals that you almost certainly wouldn’t even notice. The guide will also give you the names of the colourful birds and other animals that you come across. The “Big Five” (leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and rhino) can be found in Selous Game Reserve but remember that this is wild Africa, not a zoo so it is by no means certain that you will see all of the “Big Five”.

Unlike Europe where we have 4 distinct seasons, Selous has a wet and a dry season. The dry season starts in June and lasts until November and it is during this period that game viewing is at its best. The water holes have dried up so wildlife makes for the lakes and lagoons and there is also less foliage which mean that spotting game and birds is much easier. It is also the best time to see the larger predators.

The wet season covers the rest of the year and although the early part of the wet season between December and February, game viewing can still be good but it can feel very humid. For bird watchers, January to May is the best time to visit the Selous although the rains can make some roads impassable and many lodges and camps are closed between March and May.

Selous Game Reserve also boast around a third of the African Wild Dog population. The Wild Dog is critically endangered with around 1,300 of them living in Selous. Also known as “Painted Dogs”, they are social animals and hunt as a pack.

The lakes in Selous attract a wide range of birdlife with the majestic Fish Eagle being the favourite of many people. Its call is as distinctive as is white head and can be seen perched high in the trees close to the lake or soaring high in the sky. As well as storks, heron and other wading birds, the lakes are also home to crocodiles and Africa’s most dangerous animal, the hippo. Occasionally, you will see hippo out of the water during the day but usually they are resting with their heads bobbing on the surface.

Visitors really need a minimum of 3 nights to ensure they have the opportunity to see the magnificent wildlife that the Selous Game Reserve has to offer.

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Walking Safari in Selous Game Reserve

January 2nd, 2010 | Zanzibar Tanzania

Many of the safari camps in and around Selous Game Reserve offer their guests the opportunity to take part in a walking safari. Selous Riverside Camp on the banks of the Rufigi river are no different. The walks are relatively short lasting around 1-2 hours and covering no more than a mile or two. The terrain is usually fairly easy for most people and all the people on our walk wore trainers or similar comfortable shoes. The walking safaris at Selous Riverside start early. We were woken up at 5.30am for a 6am start. There was just time for a quick cup of tea or coffee before boarding the vehicles to head for the days chosen walking location. As Selous Riverside is located outside the Selous National Park, we were also going to walk outside the park. Our destination was around 10-15 minutes away and we were soon on our way, heading through a nearby village and down one of the many side roads where we pulled over. There was fairly thick vegetation all round us but paths that had been cleared by passing elephants and hippo were clearly visible so we followed these. Our group of 6 walkers was accompanied by an armed ranger and a local tracker. We were given a short briefing explaining procedures should we come across any wildlife and once everyone was happy, we set off. The ranger led the way and we all followed in single file with the tracker falling in behind. Although it was fairly unlikely that we would come across any larger wildlife such as elephants or leopards mainly due to the noise we made, our ranger did tell us that he has seen a large selection of such animals during walks. This type of walking safari is more about the smaller things such as insects, plants and birds. The first item of interest we came across was a termite mound that stood at least 2 metres tall. The ranger explained that although the termite mound looked quite large, two-thirds of the system was underground. Quite impressive when you consider the size of the little creatures who built it. The one inescapable sound was the almost deafening sound of cicadas which were all around us. Measuring between 1-2 inches, the cicada are similar to locusts and if you look closely, you’ll see them all over the trees. They go through a 17 year life cycle and are preyed upon by pretty much everything in the wild. We were also shown plants like the Sausage Tree which takes its name from the sausage shaped fruit it produces. However, the fruit is much large than the traditional English breakfast sausage as it grows up to a metre in length and can weigh over 10kg. The walk lasted for an hour and although it was all too easy to get the feeling it wasn’t much different to a walk in a wood back in England, the occasional tracks we came across gave us a reminder that we were very much in Africa. Once back at the safari vehicle, we were soon on our way to camp for breakfast before heading out on another day on safari in the Selous Game Reserve.

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Tanzania to borrow a leaf from Caribbean tourism

December 10th, 2009 | Zanzibar Tanzania

Commenting of his week-long trip to the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and Jamaica, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said his country has a lot to learn from the Caribbean beach tourism.

He said the Caribbean tourist development can provide a number of interesting and important lessons for Tanzania’s beach tourism in terms of performance, infrastructure and service provision to the tourists.

President Kikwete said Tanzania needs to invest heavily in its unexplored warm beaches, which stretch from north to south, covering almost 1,000 kilometers of soft sands and nature.

President Kikwete said when speaking to reporters in Tanzania’s capital city of dare es Salaam this week shortly after returning from Trinidad and Tobago where he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and a tour of Cuba and Jamaica.

He said Tanzania had an extensive coastline, running from Tanga on the Kenyan border to Msimbati area in Mtwara on Mozambican border, but remained idle with no viable investment to attract tourists.

The president said Tanzania has done little to invest in lucrative beach tourism compared with the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Cuba. “I was very impressed by tourism in Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and Jamaica,” he said.

He emphasized the need for his East African country to explore beach tourism potentials to add to the existing wildlife based tourist attractions which had attracted over 95 percent of over 950,000 tourists this year.

Tourism accounts for more than 60 percent of Jamaica’s economy, making the Caribbean island among the best tourist destination in North America.

Jamaica, which has 2.8 million inhabitants, receives some 2.6 million tourists annually, mainly from the US, Canada and some European countries, while Tanzania with 36 million people with abundant wildlife and other attractions struggling to pull the one million tourists next year.

He admitted that Tanzania had lacked the best plans to utilize its Indian Ocean beaches, which could attract many foreign visitors, taking into account that most tourists are interested in beach tourism and sunbathing.

Tanzania needed to put up thrilling hotels along its Indian Ocean beaches, he said, noting that beach tourism could become an important area in the industry reaping more revenues than the traditional wildlife tourism.

The president linked the underperformance of the country’s tourism sector to poor infrastructure and services offered to tourists.

He said local tourism promoters needed to improve product branding and blend wildlife safaris and beach tourism with historical and cultural attractions.

While in Jamaica, Mr. Kikwete visited various natural and created attractions at Jamaica’s Ocho Rios tourist hub in St. Ann region and envied achievements registered by the Caribbean country’s tourism.

Source: eTurboNews (http://www.eturbonews.com/13206/tanzania-borrow-leaf-caribbean-tourism)