The world heritage sites in Tanzania that I can visit on my trip to Tanzania safari is a place such as a forest, mountain, lake, island, desert, monument, building, complex, or city, that is listed by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) as of special cultural or physical significance.
Tanzania has 7 World Heritage Sites. Only three countries in Africa have more: Tunisia (8) and Algeria and Ethiopia (7) and only Morocco have as many sites as Tanzania. The sites in Tanzania comprise 3 cultural sites and 3 natural sites and one mixed site:
Cultural selection represents a masterpiece of human creative genius, exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time, or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design etc.
Cultural sites are
• Kondoa rock art sites (2006)
• Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Ruins of Songo Mnara(1981)
• Stone Town of Zanzibar (2000)
Contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance, is an outstanding example representing major stages of Earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features etc.
Natural selected are
• Kilimanjaro National Park (1987)
• Selous Game Reserve (1982)
• Serengeti National Park (1981)
Mixed:
• Ngorongoro Conservation Are (1979, 2010
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania safari (NCA) boasts the finest blend of landscapes wildlife, people and archaeological sites in Africa and is situated 180 km west of Arusha. The rich pasture and permanent water of the Crater floor supports a large resident population of wildlife of up to 25,000 predominantly grazing animals. The conservation area, is administered by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, and its boundaries follow the boundary of the Ngorongoro Division of Ngorongoro District. It covers an area of 8,288 km (3,200 square miles).
Inscribed on the World heritage list in 1981 were inhabited since the ninth century AD. The Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara ruins have been under threats of natural decay, plant infestation and roots destruction, wind erosion, sea wave destruction and human activity near the property.
The Kilwa heritage site holds extra ordinary capital, both natural and cultural ,for the local populations. It is on this capital that the sustainable development of the district must be built to make the ownership of the successive support programs a daily reality. Visitors who flock to Kilwa and enjoy its pristine beaches must prolong their stay for the people of Kilwa to fully benefit from their presence.
The remains of two great East African ports admired by early European explorers are situated on two small islands near the coast. From the 13th to the 16th century, the merchants of Kilwa dealt in gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian crockery, Persian earthenware and Chinese porcelain; much of the trade in the Indian Ocean thus passed through their hands. Serious archaeological investigation began in the 1950s. In 1981 it was declared a World Heritage Site, and noted visitor sites are the Great Mosque, the Mkutini Palace and some remarkable ruins. However, the ruins are also on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The list constitutes a call to improve their safeguarding and is designed to rally national and international efforts for their preservation
The Serengeti National Park is not only the most famous national park in Tanzania safari but also the oldest national park in Tanzania. The area was declared a protected area since the year 1921, and later as a national park in the year 1951 being the first gazette national park in the Country.
The Serengeti National Park is Tanzania oldest park, and one of the world’s last great wildlife refuges, hence its World Heritage Site status. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one million white bearded (or brindled) wildebeest and 200,000 zebra. The park covers 14,763 km (5,700 square miles) of grassland plains and savannah as well as riverine forest and woodlands. The park lies in the north of the country, bordered to the north by the national Tanzania and Kenyan border, where it is contiguous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
• Home to the Great Migration
• Authentic game viewing opportunities
• Hot air balloon safaris
• One of the best destinations to spot African predators
• Excellent accommodation options
• One of the cheapest national parks in Tanzania
• Many airstrip
The Kondoa rock art site is a series of caves carved into the side of a hill looking out over the steppe. The cave site is nine kilometers off the main highway from Kondoa to Arusha, about 20 km north of Kondoa. The site has a spectacular collection of images from over 150 shelters depicting elongated people, animals, and hunting scenes. Today many of the shelters are still considered to have ritual associations with the people who live nearby, reflecting their beliefs, rituals and cosmological traditions.
The Kilimanjaro National Park is located near Moshi Tanzania. It is centered on the iconic and dramatic snow-clad slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, which covers an area of 753 km (291 square miles). In 1973, the mountain above the tree line was classified as a National Park, and was opened to public access in 1977, but it wasn’t until 1987 UNESCO listed the park as a World Heritage Site.
It’s known as Mji Mkongwe in Swahili language meaning that ancient town is the old part of Zanzibar. Due to its historical significance, and 19th century stone architecture, stone town has become a UNESCO World Heritage in 2000 and is considered to be one of the most significant, historical and tourist attractions in Tanzania. There are many attractions in stone town including museum, memorial and ancients iconic buildings influenced by Arabia Persia, India and Europe. The old town is built on a triangular peninsula of land on the Western coast of the Island.
Justification for the inscription, includes its rich cultural fusion and harmonization; its great symbolic importance in the suppression of slavery; and the intense seaborne trading activity between Asia and Africa, which is illustrated today in the exceptional architecture and urban structure of the Stone Town.
Best time to visit stone town is from June until October
The Selous Game Reserve safari in Tanzania was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982, in recognition of its outstanding universal value, as one of the largest remaining wilderness areas in Africa, with relatively undisturbed ecological and biological processes and exceptional biodiversity.
In 2014, the site was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, owing to a poaching crisis that has led to dramatic declines in the elephant population of the Selous ecosystem. Over the last six months, the World Heritage Centre (WHC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have received numerous reports expressing concern about the decision of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, to move forward with the construction of a hydropower dam at Stigler’s Gorge, located within the Selous Game Reserve World Heritage property.
1.A country must first take an inventory of its significant cultural and natural properties for the purposes of establishing what is referred to as the Tentative List.
2. Only properties that belong to the tentative list can be nominated by a relevant country.
3. The selected properties in the tentative list can then be chosen and placed into a nomination file
4. The file is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. These bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee
5. The Committee meets once per year to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List, and sometimes defers the decision to request more information from the country who nominated the site.
•Oldoinyo Murwak(1997)
•Gombe National Park (1997)
•Jozani–Chwaka Bay Conservation Area (1997)
•Eastern Arc Mountains Forests of Tanzania (2006)
•The Central Slave and Ivory Trade Route (2006)