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The finest, the oldest, the highest, all the superlatives come into play in Tanzania. The gateway city of Dar es Salaam leads into one of the richest travel experiences a person can have. Its beaches (Kunduchi, Mjimwena, Mbwa Maji) are close by and wonderful, protected by coral reefs. A 20 minutes' flight brings you to Zanzibar, renowned for perfuming the Indian Ocean with the aroma of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and many other spices, as you approach by sea. Visit the spice markets and return with true riches of ancient times. Dar es Salaam, the main port and, until 1996, capital of the country (Dodoma is now the capital), is near Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. Three of Africa's largest lakes border this country-Lake Nyasa in the southwest, along the Rift Valley of archaeology fame; Lake Tanganyika, second-deepest lake in Africa, on the border with Congo, and Lake Victoria, the world's second-largest freshwater lake. Tanzania is most famous among travellers for its safaris of all descriptions, from trekking to balloon rides, from make-do to magnificent-all with professional guides. The Serengeti Plain is home to wildebeest, zebra, elephant, giraffe-more than 30 species of herding and other plains animals and uncountable flocks of birds. Much of the country is game reserve-for instance, the Selous Game reserve, spread over one-sixth of the country. Hemmingway wanna-bes can still be happy here too: some hunting is permitted, as it is environmentally friendly to do the occasional cull.