With photographers Mohamed Amin and Duncan Willetts
(London: Bodley Head, 1984); (Nairobi: Camerapix Publishers International, fourth impression, 1994). Large format, hdbk., pp.191

Tanzania is a land of rare beauty. Bordered by shimmering lakes and the Indian Ocean, it is East Africa’s largest nation, half the size of Europe. Its natural features are unique: snow-capped Kilimanjaro on the equator, Africa’s largest mountain; Lake Tanganyika, its longest and deepest lake; Lake Victoria, the world’s largest lake, and Ngorongoro, the largest unbroken volcanic crater. In the mighty Selous straddling the Rufiji river and the Serengeti plains in the highlands, roam the last great herds of African wildlife.

Accompanied by the photographers Mohamed Amin and Duncan Willetts, Marshall travelled throughout this vast country. He explores its rich and ancient past, from the fossils in Olduvai Gorge which suggest that it was the home of the first race of humans; the great Swahili civilization which developed with Arab influence along the coast; to the arrival of the British and German explorers and settlers who transformed the country. After tracing the effects of the colonial experience, he considers the attempt under Julius Nyerere, the first president of the newly independent nation, to create a local version of African socialism. Taking in the superb nature parks and wildlife sanctuaries, the book ends with a climb up Kilimanjaro, without doubt one of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Peter Marshall also contributed to East Africa (Amsterdam: Time-Life Books, 1986)