Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa. Tanzania tourist attractions includes the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Mafia and is the home of Africa’s highest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro, at 5,895 meters (19,340 feet). Tanzania consists of more than 120 ethnic groups with Swahili as the country’s official language.

Tanzania is rich with many attractions that bring in people from across the continent and here is a list of some of the country’s main tourist attractions.

ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK

Arusha National park has a size of: 552 sq km 212 sq miles). The park is located in Northern Tanzania, northeast of Arusha town. Despite te small size of the park, it comprise of ash cone of Mt. Meru, slopes, the momela lakes, Ngurdoto crater and the lush highland forest that cover its lower slopes.

The Momela Lakes are covered by the grassy hills each one with a different hue of green and blue. Game viewing in Arusha enables one see zebras, giraffes, herds of buffalo and warthogs, waterbucks, Dik dik.

Although elephants are uncommon in Arusha National Park and lions absent altogether, leopards and spotted hyenas may be seen slinking around in the early morning and late afternoon.  It is also at dusk and dawn that the veil of cloud on the eastern horizon is most likely to clear, revealing the majestic snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro, only 50km (30 miles) distant.

LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK

Lake Manyara National Park delivered its name from a plant known as Emanyara in Maasai language. Emanyara is a special plant which is used by the Maasai to protect their bomas (hedge).

The Park was gazetted as a National park in 1960 and was declared as Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1981. The park covers an area of 648.7 km² (402 sq miles) of which 262.7 km^{2 (}163 sq miles) is covered by lake and 386 km² (240 sq miles) is dry land.

The park has both the short and long rainy seasons with the short one starting from November to December and long rains from February to May.

KILIMANJARO NATIONAL PARK

Kilimanjaro National park was gazatted as a national park in 1973 but was not open to public ass until 1977 when it was opened.

The park was declared by UNESCO as a world heritage site in 1987 and voted as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa in 2013. Kilimanjaro is located in Northern Tanzania 48 km from Moshi town and covers an area of 1,668 square km and it can easily be accessed By road:123 km, a two hour drive from the city of Arusha or 48 km, an hour drive from Moshi town to Marangu Gate and 86km one hour and half drive from Kilimanjaro International Airport.

Tourism activities in Kilimanjaro National park include Mountain Climbing which is done throughout the year though mid June-October and December-mid March is better.

GOMBE NATIONAL PARK

Gombe National park is located 16km North of Kigoma town. The park is situated on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Western Tanzania. Gombe which is a home to the chimpanzees covers an area of 56 square kilo Meters. Dr. Jane Goodall made her research which is believed to be the longest running study of primates in the world. The main tourism activity carried out in this National park is chimpanzee trekking.

Chimpanzee can be trekked throughout the year. However, for plants/insects and better chimpanzee spotting, the best time is during wet season (November to mid May) and for the best photo taking (May to October).

SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

Serengeti National park is located in the Northern zone of Tanzania. This is a very stunning wildlife sanctuary with the largest surviving concentration of plains game.

The park is home to the great migration where millions of antelopes and zebras traverse an are of 14764 sq kilometers ranging from the masai mara in Kenya, almost to the shores of Lake Victoria in the West and down to the rim of the Ngorongorro crater in the south.

TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK

Tarangire National park is also a unique National park located in the in the Northern cicuit of Tanzania. The park is very famous for its elephants, buffalos and zebras. In Tarangire National park, there is Tarangire river which acts as the only source of water to all the wild life during the dry season therefore during this season, all animals are attracted to this river so as to quench their thirst.

The park is also blessed with palms, baobabs and red dust which does not only make it unique from other parks, but also set a scene for magnificent sunrise and sunset views.

SELOUS GAME RESERVE

Selous game reserve is Africa’s largest wildlife reserve covering over 5% of Tanzania’s total area. The game reserve is home to a big population of elephants, the areas famous wild dogs and the remaining black rhino in the region.

The reserve is one of Africa’s remaining un touched gems and this is because it is so remote that few and small aircrafts access it.

NGORONGORO CRATER

Ngorongoro crater is a world heritage site which is a habitant for a variety of animal species which include, hippos, cheetah, plains, elephants, lions, and a variety of bird species. The heritage Is also home to herds of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, impala, baboons and many more.