Many people like to celebrate the ushering of the New Year in style, but for those who are in Tanzania or plan to visit the country during the end of year’s holiday may want to know exactly where the action is and where tranquillity reigns.
There are few places in Tanzania that guarantee a satisfying experience as one bids the year farewell, in fact we only managed to get four, for this review.
1. Serengeti National Park
For people who love wildlife then Serengeti is the place to be during the month of December.
This is the time when the wildebeest migration moves south to the plains with the millions of ungulates dotting the entire landscape as far as the eye can see and even stretching all the way beyond the horizon.
And with short rains irrigating this Tanzania’s third largest pack, there is the lush green carpet of fresh grass to make the spectacular background.
But be warned some live blood curdling episodes of carnivores lunching on the herbivores should also be expected.
And while traveling to and from Serengeti, one may get the added treat of passing through Ngorongoro Conservation Area and watch down the crater from the highlands above and even divert there.
2. Dar-es-salaam City
Dar is usually hot, noisy and overcrowded, but not in December.
Most Dar-es-salaam residents usually travel up-country for holidays, with many of them taking their cars with them, leaving the coastal city a serene place to spend the end of year festivals in the tranquil environment near the sea.
With most people out of the way, you may even strike good bargains at hotels and other places of accommodation.
3. Zanzibar
Of course the Islands sometimes get crowded during the end of year seasons, because most people, especially those from the Southern Parts of the continent love to be in stone town for Christmas and New Year.
Still, beach lovers would like to be on the Isles sandy beaches when the New Year fireworks start exploding in the skies.
Plus, for foreign visitors it certainly boosts one’s ego to tell colleagues back home that you have been to Zanzibar for Christmas.
4. Kilimanjaro
When mentioning Kilimanjaro, most people’s thoughts float up to the Mountain.
However there is more to Kilimanjaro than just Africa’s highest peak.
In December, Moshi, the town at the foot of Kilimanjaro suddenly became vibrant. This is the time when natives of the region return there to celebrate end-of-year holidays.
Moshi Municipality then becomes the perfect place for cultural tourism as almost all festive events take place in rural highland villages, where goats get slaughtered, traditional beer brewed, traditional dance and modern music melt into a single pot and everybody becomes young again.
But again, people may want to scale Mount Kilimanjaro during the end of year when the season is low and so are the temperatures on the peaks, to guarantee the snow filled backgrounds.
Other places to be considered
They may not be very popular, but the southern parts of Tanzania are yet to be fully explored.
Now for those who want to play pathfinders of the future, they may want to tray Nyerere, the country’s biggest National Park which is still in its pristine natural state. Not a bad place to welcome the New Year 2025.
Ruaha National Park is also the perfect place to be for those who really want peace together with spectacular wildlife sighting experience.
Mto-wa-Mbu area, which happens to be a busy hamlet through which travelers pass on their way to Serengeti, Ngorongoro or Musoma, offers rich cultural experience while the Lake Manyara National Park could inject the wildlife experience in the package.