VISIT
Welcome To Tanga
Tanga located in the North-East of Tanzania is the second large port of the mainland after Dar es Salaam, and the third Large city of the country after Mwanza and Dar es Salaam.
The city had been a colonial territory and was firstly colonized by the Portuguese before the Arab rule took over where later she was ruled by Germany after the abolition of slave trade.
Tanga is refered to as a historical city because she is holding some very old buildings and structures left by colonies on her grounds including the clock tower, St. Anthony cathedral and old railway station that had connected many parts of the northern Tanzania with the sea.
This city however does not receive many guests but it worth a visit for a peaceful tour.
The city is as well by the road to Dar es Salaam-Arusha-Morogoro so you can pass by while on route to visit those regions.
About Tanga
Area: 536 km sq.
Weather: 31°C
WHERE TO GO
+ Amboni Caves
These are ten limestone caves in Tanga covering a large area of about 234 sq km. having being formed about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic age.
Among the ten caves it is only one that is being used for tour.
For safety reasons you will need a guide to walk through this cave because you really don't want to get lost in there plus to avoid fatalities you may possibly incur due to a fact that the caves are lethal.
However one among the amazing thing about these caves is that they had naturally formed shapes of several structures like that of map of Africa, crocodile and elephants.
Visit the caves for a tour and more fascinating stories, like that of the European ex-army officers who tried exploring the caves and never returned while the Dog they took along with got found 400km away at the foothills of mount Kilimanjaro. How strange.
Location: Amboni, Tanga
+ Tanga museum
The museum building was built in the 1890s by the imperial Germany colony administration when Germany ruled this city.
The building was fully rehabilitated and opened for a museum viewing today though still in a process of being equipped with more exhibits to get fully opened.
The museum however is currently exhibiting photos of historical architecture and buildings of Tanga + few more things.
So far, The building itself is impressive you can walk around through the basement to the watch tower and get the feel of those very old castle.
Location: Independence avenue
+ Pangani
Pangani is named after the river that is crossing through it, the pangani river sourced from the foot of mount Kilimanjaro to bring water to the Indian ocean. It is an old town that had been a station on the caravan route for exporting slaves and ivory during colonialism, it is holding much of historical sites.
Things to do in Pangani
-visit the former slave camps and slave market site
-Walking tour in the historical city, admire buildings that are 100+ year old.
-Visit Maziwe island, that has an interesting story, where as before these dates it was larger with a lot of
vegetation but many factors had lead to the disappearance of all vegetation and the island had gone smaller.
Today it is a sandy island that submerges, when tides are high it totally disappears.
-Pangani river boat safari
+ Amani nature reserve,
Usambara mountains
Germany established this site as the agriculture research station in 1902, it became a nature reserve in 1997.
The reserve covers a large area and hosts a very large botanical garden.
There are excellent routes and trails in these forests making hiking possible and not boring because you will be enjoying a peaceful and beautiful forest scenery homed by rare animals, like black and white colobus also the blue monkeys
Amani nature reserve is also a home of colorful birds, and as we know home is home so it should always look good and these birds do their home justice by making it look beautiful everyday with their colors, if you are birds lover and lucky enough you might see the Nduk eagle owl which is only found in these forests.
+ Saadani
National Park
Saadani national park is the only national park in Tanzania that sides with the ocean.
You will get a chance to see more than 25 species of mammals wondering along the ocean shore as well as reptiles and birds.
+ Peponi Beach
Peponi Beach is a famous beach in Tanga, portraying its name peponi which is Swahili word for heaven by having being set around an untroubled and nature retained area.It is the most visited beach in Tanga and hopefully you can enjoy it as well too.
Location: Kigombe
+ Tongoni ruins
These ruins that age from the 14th century are located about 17 km south of Tanga city center.
They are ruins of more than 30 tombs and a mosque that are believed to be of Shiraz people. This is the largest collection of such tombs in the whole East coast.
Vasco Da Gamma had visited Tongoni April 1498 and returned on the next year for a second visit and stayed for fifteen days. Maybe there was something cool.
You can visit too
Location: Pangani