7 great places to visit in Tanzania

Us humans have the bad habit of letting routine take over our lives - losing sight of what is important to us or what we are thankful for.

Well today, I reminded myself to be thankful for calling the beautiful country that is Tanzania my home and I would like to share with you some of my favourite places that I have been lucky enough to discover during my eight years here.

Zanzibar
Despite being a tourist hotspot, this beautiful island has my heart. The mix of Swahili culture, Arabic flair and turquoise waters off white-sand beaches makes me fall in love every time I go. I relax the instant I set foot on Zanzibari soil.

The beautiful waters of Kendwa, Zanzibar bathed in evening light.

Arusha
Gateway to the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park, the town of Arusha is pleasantly cool and green. It has a nice chilled-out atmosphere and many little restaurants where one can find decent European food. It also has a great craft market where you can buy souvenirs.

Mount Meru, Arusha 

Kilimanjaro

Even if you are not there to climb the 'roof of Africa', visiting Marangu in the foothills of the mountain offers great hiking opportunities to local waterholes and to coffee plantation. I have also had the best cup of coffee I have ever had in the town of Moshi which is similar to Arusha.

Ruaha National Park

My favourite and the biggest National Park in Tanzania, it is a truly wild place which makes for an amazing safari experience. I once spend the night there with a friend and did not sleep a wink because a pride of lions was rumbling and roaring all night.

Lions stilling their thirst after rains in Ruaha National Park 

Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
A world-heritage site and a natural wonder, looking down into the crater is a humbling experience. I don't think I have ever seen a more beautiful sight or one more wild and natural. It is also home to a huge number of wildlife including the Big Five.

Ngorongoro Crater as seen from above the crater rim.

Mafia Island
I worked there for nearly two years and sampled its amazing dive sites many a times. It is a place where you are guaranteed to see rays, turtles, giant groupers, dolphins and even sharks. It is also becoming famous for offering snorkeling with whale sharks that frequent its eastern shores.

South beaches Dar es Salaam
I love the fact that you can feel a million miles away from hectic city life in Dar es Salaam, when you are, in actual fact, still in the city. The ideal place to spend a weekend sunbathing and drinking cocktails.

Turquoise waters at Kigamboni beach, Dar es Salaam 

These are just a few places I visited and loved - Tanzania has so much more to offer. Just one other great place to see, is our home here in the Masai Steppe, if you are up for an adventure ❤🌍🌳🐾

Our children

I have to admit that before I came to Tanzania, I had never wanted to have children.
As a matter of fact, I never wanted to get married either.

Now that I have been married for nearly 6 years and have a son of 20 months, I take a step back and ask myself what happened?

And the answer is, Africa happened!

I found so much love here, in the beauty of the country and my amazing husband and in the children without whom, Africa would only be half as heart-warming.

The children here come towards you here so fearlessly, so full of trust and curiosity - it melts your heart and makes you so much softer.

Children in Africa often grow up under difficult conditions, their parents struggling everyday to provide for them, yet they are always cheerful, running around playing with the simplest things like sand and sticks.

You do not need to encourage them to play or engage with their neighbours, they do so all by themselves and they watch and learn from their parents every day mimicking the chores they do.

They seem to grow up here so much quicker yet never losing their smiles and their playfulness.

From my earliest days here in Africa I have loved engaging with kids, finding they would pick me up even from the darkest mood and inspiring me to be a more open, kinder and softer person.

Here are some pictures of the amazing kids I live with these days.

My husband's cousin's daughter carrying her baby sister.

My husband's cousin herding our cattle. 

Our son carrying his favourite baby sheep

Some of the kids from our boma posing for the camera.

Every day challenges in Africa

A week ago, I was travelling from our home in the Kiteto district to Dar es Salaam with two friends who had come on their first visit to Africa.

Travelling in rural Tanzania is often challenging due to bad road conditions but I had not worried too much about this trip as it had not rained at all yet this year and the dirt road was dry.

One of the many rural settlements we pass when travelling to Dar es Salaam.

This changed though when we were about 2 hours into our journey and it starting raining. The dirt road turned to mud and our bus was more slithering than driving along it.

Then we met a truck which had broken down and had not managed to move to its side of the road so as to let passing vehicles by. Our driver thought it wise to attempt passing it despite the slippery road and - unsurprisingly - the heavy bus slipped to its left and into the side ditch at such an angle that even the front door would not open anymore.

I only realized that there was no way to exit this bus to get ourselves to safety before the driver would attempt to reverse out of the ditch, when people starting climbing out of the windows.

Myself exiting our bus through the window.

I had a hurt foot and the jump out of the window was 9 feet so I had to think about this one for a while.

Luckily we were with some Masai from our village and they managed to climb out and assist us in doing so ourselves.

I felt bad for my friends who are not used to encountering such difficulties when travelling but they took it well.
We took shelter under some nearby shop windows as it started pouring down.

Passengers watch as the bus crew works on getting it out.

Soon, to our luck, another bus came past and we squeezed in to continue our journey, leaving our bus being worked on by the crew.

We made it to Dar es Salaam the same day.

It was an adventure that, as so many things do here in Africa, tested our spirits and resilience. We emerged from it unhurt if disillusioned and it taught us a valuable lesson about how lucky we are in the first world where road travel is so much safer and comfortable.

It was not the first time I experienced a bus discontinuing its journey due to roads having become impassable and it will not be the last.

It is in fact how people in rural Africa travel on a daily basis - and they never lose their smiles despite it.