Tanzania

Tanzania is the most emblematic safari destination on earth. This is where wild Africa takes on its full cinematic dimension: herds of wildebeest and zebra crossing the Serengeti plains in their hundreds of thousands, lions stretched out on kopjes at dusk, the Ngorongoro Crater — a 19-kilometre-wide caldera forming a closed ecosystem with the highest mammal density in Africa — and the snow-capped silhouette of Kilimanjaro, the continent's highest peak at 5,895 metres, rising over the Maasai plains.

But Tanzania is far more than safaris. Off the eastern coast lies the archipelago of Zanzibar, an ancient trading sultanate turned crossroads of Swahili, Arab, Persian and Indian civilisations. Stone Town, its UNESCO-listed historic capital, is a labyrinth of carved doors and salt-eaten wooden balconies, scented with cloves and cinnamon. The beaches of Nungwi, Kendwa and Paje unroll their white sand into a turquoise sea that few places on the planet can match. This duality — sun-baked savannah on one side, tropical lagoons on the other — makes Tanzania a destination that can cover, in just two weeks, the full African spectrum.

Tanzania boasts 22 national parks and protected areas covering more than 38% of its territory — one of the highest proportions in the world. The country shelters the last intact African megafauna: 1.5 million wildebeest, 2.5 million antelopes, more than 4,000 lions, 1,100 elephants in Tarangire alone, plus significant populations of leopards, cheetahs, black rhinos, hippos and buffalo. The cost of accessing this exceptional nature is high — park entry fees keep climbing (70 USD/day in the Serengeti) and quality accommodation remains expensive — but the experience is incomparable. No wildlife documentary prepares you for the emotional jolt of seeing, at ten metres, a lion stretch his mane in the golden light of an African sunset.