The Rough Guide to Tanzania 1 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

by Jens Finke (Author) "Flying is the only practical way to reach Tanzania from outside East Africa - there are direct or one-stop flights from Europe to Dar es..." (more)
Key Phrases: northern circuit, prison island, safari lodge, Stone Town, East Africa, Mount Meru (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
INTRODUCTION

Lying just south of the equator, Tanzania is East Africa’s largest country, and an immensely rewarding place to visit. Filling the brochures are several world-famous attractions: the plains of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa’s highest mountain) and Zanzibar, with its idyllic palm-fringed beaches and historic Stone Town. Yet there’s a whole lot more to Tanzania than these obvious highlights. Almost everywhere you go you’ll find interesting wildlife and inspiring landscapes (over forty percent of the country is protected in some form or other) ranging from forest-covered volcanic peaks to dusty savanna populated by elephants, antelopes, lions, leopards and cheetahs. Tanzania is one of the four most naturally diverse nations on earth: it contains Africa’s second-largest number of bird species (around 1500), the continent’s biggest mammal population and three-quarters of East Africa’s plant species (over ten thousand). Add to this the country’s rich ethnic diversity, some superb hiking and other activities like snorkelling and diving, and you have the makings of a holiday of a lifetime.

For all its natural diversity, Tanzania’s best asset is its people: friendly, welcoming, unassumingly proud and yet reserved – you’ll be treated with uncommon warmth and courtesy wherever you go, and genuine friendships are easily made. The best known tribe are the Maasai, a pastoralist cattle-herding people who inhabit the region around the safari parks in the north, yet there are at least 127 other tribes in Tanzania, perhaps not as visually colourful as the red-robed, spear-carrying Maasai warriors, but with equally rich traditions, histories, customs, beliefs and music, much of which survive despite the ravages of colonialism, modernity and Christianity. For many years, only those with months on their hands had the privilege of really getting to know these people, but since 1995, an award-winning cultural tourism programme has broken new ground in enabling tourists, even those with little time or limited budgets, to experience for themselves local life in an intimate and inevitably fascinating way.

About the Author

Jens Finke has been travelling around East Africa since 1988. He is author of the Rough Guide to Zanzibar and a long-term contributor to the Rough Guide to Kenya.

Jens Finke has been travelling around East Africa since 1988. He is author of the Rough Guide to Zanzibar and a long-term contributor to the Rough Guide to Kenya.

Jens Finke has been travelling around East Africa since 1988. He is author of the Rough Guide to Zanzibar and a long-term contributor to the Rough Guide to Kenya.

Jens Finke has been travelling around East Africa since 1988. He is author of the Rough Guide to Zanzibar and a long-term contributor to the Rough Guide to Kenya.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; illustrated edition edition (February 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858287839
• ISBN-13: 978-1858287836
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #996,169 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE best guide on Tanzani, according to locals, July 4, 2006

By	m&m (Denver, CO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Tanzania 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

That says it all. We attracted lots of attention by being the first to show up in Tanzania toting the new edition. The locals all agreed it was the most comprehensive & accurate guide available, & were really impressed by some of the things we knew from reading it. We had several offers to buy it when we left but wanted to keep it as a souvenir.
Be aware that the author included information on a FEW things that were planned but never opened. Nonetheless, it's an outstanding guide with good maps & lovely photos.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Left me in a lurch more than once..., June 20, 2007

By	N. Williams (CA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Tanzania 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I just got back from a three week business trip to Tanzania, and I have to say that this guide was worse than useless-- it was dangerous. On three seperate occasions I took taxis to the most highly recommended restaurants in the guide only to find myself in dangerously isolated areas with businesses that in no way shape or form resembled their reviews. If you are going to visit specific places listed in the guide I recommend you have your taxi wait until you can check out the inside for yourself.

The map of Arusha is not accurate. I walked with a single female traveler who needed to buy a bus ticket in Arusha, and its a good thing I was with her because the map was off on its location by about 8 blocks-- and the real location was in one of the most dangerous parts of town. In Dar es Salaam the one location listed as being able to offer cash advances for Mastercards with no pin does not offer such a service as I found out after spending the last of my shillings on a taxi to get there. I had more experiences like this using the guide than I have room to list here.

This guide was good for giving me a sense of orientation before I left, but was so out of date and just plain wrong that I would very strongly warn against using it in country. They claim the author has lived in Tanzania for years, but I do not see how this can be true. I saw so many other tourists in Tanzania using this book, so I know that many of you will buy it-- but please be careful and take ALL specific information with a very large dose of skepticism. Be careful.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not very precise, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

I just bought this book to replace my old lonely planet, expecing to find new information on Tanzani. I have not traveled around Tanzania with this book in hand, so would like to leave the judgement on practicalities to those who have, but after quickly skimming it, I noticed the book contains quite a few factual mistakes. For instance the author says that Dar-es-Salaam is predominantly muslim, which is is completely wrong - Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim and possibly Bagamoyo but in Dar-es-Salaam the Christian-Muslim ratio is fifty-fifty at most, or he advises to bring cigarets for present if you are invited to a Tanzanian family (smoking population is really small, so it is not a common present), etc. A number of new but prominent shops/restaurants that were open since or before 2002 are also not there - Dar-es-Salaam is a quickly growing and changing city, so if the book is published in 2003 and misses new opening of 2002, it is not very up-to-date info. Swahili vocabulary/phrases section contains a number of basic mistakes (some phrases don't make sense). I wonder why such a widely used guidebook would not have someone who knows Swahili to check such basic things, which leaves me a bit sceptical about accuracy of other information.