Tarangire

As you enter Tarangire National Park a vast number of baobabs catch your eye. The gently rolling countryside is dotted with these majestic trees, which seem to dwarf the animals that feed beneath them. The park is spectacular in the dry season when many migratory wildlife species come back to the waters of the Tarangire River. Huge herds of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, eland and oryx gather to stay in Tarangire until the onset of the rains when they migrate again to good grazing areas. Tarangire National Park is second only to Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area in concentrations of wildlife and lies to the south of the large, open grass plains of southern Maasailand.

Serengeti

Today, the Serengeti National Park helps protect the greatest and most varied collection of terrestrial wildlife on earth, and one of the last great migratory systems still intact. The Serengeti is the jewel in the crown of Tanzania's protected areas and has come to symbolize paradise. The region encompasses Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti and Ikorongo Controlled Areas and Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Two World Heritage Sites and two Biosphere Reserves have been established within the region. It's unique ecosystem has inspired writers and filmakers as well as numerous photographers and scientists. The essential features of climate, vegetation and fauna have barely changed in the past million years. Some patterns of life, death, adaptation and migration are as old as the hills themselves.

Arusha

Arusha is the safari capital of East Africa, a bustling, vibrant town with the streets filled with 4X4 game viewing vehicles criss-crossing the potholed roads. Maasai warriors in full regalia stroll the streets, mingling with tourists in crisp khaki, fresh off the plane from Europe or the United States.

Kigali

Even in the best of times, Kigali, Rwanda's capital city, didn't have much for visitors to do, other than visiting its food market in the town center, enjoying the views (the city is built on a series of steep hills) or taking a walk.

These days, the market again bustles with activity. However, prices of imported goods are very high in this landlocked capital, where almost everything, apart from local produce, must be flown in or shipped from the distant coast. Visitors can buy local arts and crafts in Caplaki, a tourist market.

The city's most compelling and disturbing landmark is the Gisozi Genocide Museum situated on a site where at least 250,000 residents of Kigali were killed during the 1994 genocide. Another site is the Natural History Museum, housed in the former residence of the German explorer and zoologist Dr. Richard Kandt.

Kigali was established in 1907 as a small colonial outpost.

Kigali

Even in the best of times, Kigali, Rwanda's capital city, didn't have much for visitors to do, other than visiting its food market in the town center, enjoying the views (the city is built on a series of steep hills) or taking a walk.

These days, the market again bustles with activity. However, prices of imported goods are very high in this landlocked capital, where almost everything, apart from local produce, must be flown in or shipped from the distant coast. Visitors can buy local arts and crafts in Caplaki, a tourist market.

The city's most compelling and disturbing landmark is the Gisozi Genocide Museum situated on a site where at least 250,000 residents of Kigali were killed during the 1994 genocide. Another site is the Natural History Museum, housed in the former residence of the German explorer and zoologist Dr. Richard Kandt.

Kigali was established in 1907 as a small colonial outpost.

Volcanoes National Park (Parc National Des Volcans)

This park, 15 mi/25 km east of Gisenyi, protects the Rwandan portion of the spectacular Virunga Mountains, which straddle the borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Virunga is not a mountain range in the normal sense of the word but rather a chain of isolated freestanding volcanic cones strung along a fault line in the Rift Valley. Sometimes also referred to as the Birunga or Bufumbira Mountains, the chain is composed of six inactive and two active volcanoes, all of which exceed 9,840 ft/3,000 m in altitude. The tallest are Karisimbi (14,783 ft/4,507 m), Mikeno (14,553 ft/4,437 m) and Muhabura (13,537 ft/4,127 m).

Few national parks in Africa can be explored on foot, but this park north of Ruhengeri offers a reward worth the hike through its dramatically beautiful, albeit rough terrain: the chance to observe a family of mountain gorillas, the rarest—and largest—of the four gorilla subspecies. About 700 mountain gorillas live in the wild (roughly half of them in Rwanda), and naturalists have habituated seven of the 20-odd families in this park to the presence of tourist observers. Many people regard visiting these gentle giants (up to 485 lbs/220 kg) in their natural habitat to be the single most-extraordinary wildlife experience in the world. The park can be accessed on organized gorilla-tracking tours, which are limited to seven groups of eight people daily. Gorilla-tracking permits cost US$500 per person in cash (including park entrance fees but not transportation and lodging) and should be booked as far in advance as possible.

Other activities include a visit to a habituated troop of golden monkeys (an endangered bamboo-eater whose range is essentially restricted to the Virungas), as well as day or overnight hikes to the various volcanic peaks and a day trip to Dian Fossey's grave at her former research center high in the misty mountains. As a precaution, armed soldiers accompany each tour.

Singita Grumeti Reserve