This new, thoroughly updated eighth edition remains the only practical guidebook to Tanzania to reflect the overall shift of tourism away from backpackers and budget camping safaris to upper-end and mid-range safaris and beach holidays. Unlike other guidebooks, the main focus is background and practical information on Tanzania's peerless collection of national parks, game reserves and other safari destinations, including the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire, Selous, Ruaha, Katavi, Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains. Every major reserve is given a dedicated chapter detailing its ecology, wildlife, accommodation options, game drives and other activities. Written by acknowledged experts Philip Briggs and Chris McIntyre, Bradt's Tanzania also focuses on other popular and off-the-beaten track tourist attractions, ranging from Mount Kilimanjaro and the 'Spice Island' of Zanzibar to the mysterious Kilwa Ruins and Kondoa Rock Art (a pair of UNESCO World Heritage Sites often relegated to the small print of other travel guides). The accommodation listings for the national parks and other safari destinations are the most detailed and authoritative available. Briggs and McIntyre have weeded through the ever-growing number of lodges and camps to create a critically selective list of the best properties in every price bracket - upmarket, midrange and budget. The guide also includes a 48-page wildlife colour field guide, detailing all species a visitor can expect to find on a safari, making this guide the most authoritative source available.Since its mid-1980s economic nadir, when it lacked adequate facilities for anything but basic camping safaris, Tanzania has grown to be one of Africa's top safari destinations. This new edition actively responds to this evolution by focusing on the country mainly as a safari and short-stay fly-in holiday destination. It also reflects the growing trend away from large lodges towards small, exclusive eco-friendly camps in remote parts of the national parks and bordering community concessions. Tanzania is arguably Africa's greatest safari destination and is geographically one of Africa's most varied countries, its long palm-fringed coastline complemented by the scenic wonders of the Great Rift Valley, portions of Africa's three largest lakes, and several impressive mountains. With this guide you will discover everything the country has to offer, from spectacular year-round game-viewing to post-safari relaxation on the idyllic beaches of Zanzibar.
About the Author: Philip Briggs has been exploring the highways, byways and backwaters of Africa since 1986, when he spent several months backpacking on a shoestring from Nairobi to Cape Town, and first visited Tanzania, bussing from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam then catching the Tazara Railway to Zambia. He has returned to Tanzania numerous times, among other things to research and author the first Bradt Guide to Tanzania in 1992-93, as well as all seven subsequent editions. Tanzania aside, he has visited more than two dozen African countries in total and written about most of them for specialist travel and wildlife magazines, including BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Wanderlust. He still spends at least four months on the road every year, usually accompanied by his wife, the travel photographer Ariadne Van Zandbergen, and spends his rest of the time battering away at a keyboard in the sleepy South African coastal village of Wilderness. Chris McIntyre went to Africa in 1987 after reading Physics at Queen's College, Oxford. He taught with VSO in Zimbabwe for almost three years and travelled extensively, before writing his first guidebook in 1990. He has since written all Bradt's guides on Namibia, Botswana and Zambia - and co-authored (with his wife, Susan) the last four editions of Bradt's Zanzibar guide. Chris now runs the specialist tour operator ExpertAfrica, where he leads a team of dedicated Africa addicts who provide impartial advice and organise great safaris to Africa, including Tanzania.