Swirls of opaque mist hide the advancing dawn. The first shafts of sun colour the fluffy grass heads rippling across the plain in a russet halo. A herd of zebras, confident in their camouflage at this predatory hour, pose like ballerinas, heads aligned and stripes merging in flowing motion.

There are few places left on earth that might rightfully be called Eden, and the Mahale Mountains is one of them. The mountains soar to 8,000 feet above the clear waters of Lake Tanganyika, which at 420 miles long and 30 miles wide, is a veritable inland sea. The nearest road is almost 100kms away, and that is the most minor of tracks.

Lake Manyara National Park nestles at the foot of the escarpment of the Eastern arm of the Rift Valley 945 meters above sea level. Lying in the shallow depression, Lake Manyara spreads out in a heat haze backed by a narrow band of forest and the sheer red and brown cliffs of the escarpment.

Katavi National Park remains one of the greatest wildlife experiences of Africa. Miles from anywhere, it has an almost mythical status and, it’s thought, a greater density of mammals than any other Tanzanian reserve.

Gombe Stream National Park is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks. The park is a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Its chimpanzees – habituated to human visitors