Tanzania

Tanzania is East Africa’s classic safari country. On the Serengeti’s open plains, the great wildebeest migration circles all year: the herds calve in the south roughly from January to March and cross the northern rivers usually from about July to October, trailed by lions, leopards and cheetahs. The Ngorongoro Crater, a vast caldera in a UNESCO-listed conservation area, holds dense wildlife year-round, and Maasai herders graze their cattle alongside it. Below the Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara pairs forest with a flamingo-dotted shore, and Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, rises in the north-east.

Off the coast, Zanzibar has white-sand beaches, turquoise Indian Ocean water, coral reefs and wooden dhows at sunset. Spice farms grow cloves and nutmeg, and Stone Town, a UNESCO-listed old town, is a maze of narrow lanes, carved doors and Swahili architecture. Swahili food is fragrant: pilau (spiced rice), Zanzibar pizza (thin dough folded around a filling and fried on a griddle) and grilled seafood.

On safari, the long dry season, roughly June to October, is usually best for game viewing, while the green season brings lush plains. Zanzibar is warm year-round, with the main rains usually around April and May. Tanzania suits bush-and-beach trips, honeymooners, families (some lodges run children’s programmes) and photographers, and pairs easily with Kenya’s Masai Mara, the Seychelles or Mauritius.