Tanzania boasts beautiful beaches- hundreds of miles of palm-fringed sands; its lakes are huge and bountiful wit fish; its cities are relaxed and friendly; its islands, Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia live up to their exotic images. Yet this, the largest country in Eastern Africa, is untouched by the holiday making hordes of mass tourism.

The remains of one of the earliest humans were discovered in Tanzania, so the country can lay claim to the title, "The Cradle of Mankind." The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest crater in the world, a vast amphitheatre teeming with game; while the snow-capped majesty of Mount Kilimanjaro inspired Hemingway to write a novel.

It was in Tanzania that Stanley uttered those famous words, "Dr Livingstone, I presume" when he traced down the Scottish explorer after a long trek into the interior. Indeed, Tanzania was a magnet for several Victorian explorers who made epic journeys of discovery in search of the source of the Nile.