Arusha

Arusha sits in the cool green foothills of Mount Meru, roughly halfway between Cape Town and Cairo, a symbolic midpoint marked by the old German clock tower at the town's heart. Founded as a colonial administrative post in the early twentieth century, it grew from Maasai and Arusha grazing land into the busiest crossroads of northern Tanzania. Rich volcanic soils, a highland climate and proximity to the great parks made it a natural hub long before tourism arrived.

The town carries an outsized place in modern African history. It was here that the Arusha Declaration of 1967 set out Julius Nyerere's vision of ujamaa socialism, and here that peace negotiations for Rwanda, Burundi and the wider region have repeatedly been hosted. Today Arusha is home to the East African Community headquarters and to international tribunals, giving a busy safari town the added weight of a diplomatic capital.

For travellers, Arusha is the springboard for the northern safari circuit, the launch point for Kilimanjaro and Meru climbs, and the beating heart of Tanzania's tanzanite trade, a blue-violet gem found nowhere else on Earth. Markets overflow, safari vehicles idle on every corner, and on a clear day the snows of Kilimanjaro float on the eastern horizon.