Here are the available villas for rental in Tanzania.

Walking with elephants

From the Daily Mail

We are walking through a spectacular valley in Tanzania's Selous game reserve. Batelour eagles, the acrobats of the air, are spinning high above us.
A small herd of impalas has spotted us and are dancing away in mild alarm. Unconcerned, a family group of giraffes, the telegraph poles of the game world, continue to graze on trees.
Suddenly an angry trumpeting splits the air and two elephants appear from behind trees a few hundred yards distant.
'One of the older elephants just told a youngster to stop grazing on her tree,' says our guide, Dean McGregor.
Two adult females with young walk into view. One has a tiny baby sheltered between her legs. 'It's probably about 18 months old.
Now look at the others - a matriarchal cow is leading the group and that's a teenage bull following her.'
More elephants stride out, walking parallel to where we have settled in the shade of a tree.
The wind has been favouring us. But suddenly the lead elephant stops and delicately lifts her trunk, tasting the air to determine who is out there.
Dean explains that elephants have bad eyesight and indifferent hearing, but they have a tremendous sense of smell.
On foot you are simply another animal in the African bush. You have a different perception of the landscape and the animals from the usual driving safari, when noise and petrol fumes mask the breaking twigs, wind and birdsong. ... more

Conquering Kilimanjaro

From the Mail on Sunday

It started out as a crazy idea. We were flying over Kilimanjaro on our return from visiting South African projects supported by Elton's AIDS Foundation.
My friend Johnny Bergius suggested how brilliant it would be to climb the famous mountain.
Then fate intervened. We opened our in-flight magazine straight to an article about Challenges Unlimited, a British company specialising in setting up fund-raising events in Africa.
Which is how we came to be tackling the 19,340ft Tanzanian mountain - aiming to reach the summit on December 1 for World AIDS Day.
Our mate Janet Street-Porter heard our plans and asked to join.
With all her rambling experience and her hysterical sense of humour (she decided to rename the expedition 'Tantrums in Tents' mocking my Nineties TV documentary film about Elton, Tantrums And Tiaras), we knew she would be a brilliant addition to the team.
Johnny and I hoped to raise £100,000 to promote awareness of HIV/AIDS - 28.1 million people have been infected in Africa alone and back home it is on the increase.
We actually received £625,000. We've got some generous friends even if some are cynical.
'Why is David climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro?' asked one. 'Have they opened a new Gucci up there?'
He was not to know how seriously I was taking the project - starting a get-fit regime to lose my love handles and strengthen my heart and leg muscles, even joining The Third Space in Soho for its hypoxic training room allowing me to work out in an environment that simulates 8,500ft of altitude.
Was it worth it? Over to my diary notes... ... more