$4,116 to $4,345 pp (USD)
2 travelers on Start dateArrival
Arrival
Day 1
Arrival in Nyerere National Park (Selous)
Arrival in Nyerere National Park (Selous)
Nyerere National Park forms the core of what was the Selous Game Reserve – at around 54,600 square kilometres, one of the largest protected areas on the continent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The scale of it shapes the experience: low visitor numbers, vast stretches of savannah, river and forest, and wildlife that moves largely undisturbed.
Elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo are all present, alongside large populations of hippo, giraffe, zebra and impala. The park also holds one of the more viable remaining populations of black rhino in Tanzania.
What distinguishes Nyerere from the northern parks is the range of ways to move through it. A morning game drive, a walking safari with an armed ranger, and a boat excursion along the Rufiji River can each cover different ground – and each gives the landscape a different character.
- Main Destination:
- Nyerere National Park
- Accommodation:
- Rufiji River Camp
Wildlife in Nyerere NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Walking & Boat Safaris in Nyerere (Selous)
Walking & Boat Safaris in Nyerere (Selous)
A second day in Nyerere covers different ground. The boat safari along the Rufiji – Tanzania's largest river – puts you at water level, where hippos, crocodiles and birds of prey are seen differently than from a vehicle. Elephant, waterbuck and buffalo come to the banks to drink, often close enough to watch at length.
The walking safari moves at a different pace again. The focus shifts from large game to the detail of the bush – tracks in the soil, birds, plants, mongoose, guinea fowl and vervet monkey. Fresh elephant or buffalo tracks can be followed with the guide, which changes the dynamic of the search entirely.
If any of the Big Five proved elusive yesterday, a full day on the ground and water gives the search more time.
- Main Destination:
- Nyerere National Park
- Accommodation:
- Rufiji River Camp
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Bush Flight to Ruaha National Park
Bush Flight to Ruaha National Park
The morning begins with a bush flight from Nyerere – around an hour and a half in the air, crossing the southern wilderness before landing in Ruaha. The flight itself gives a sense of the scale of what lies below.
Ruaha is the second-largest national park in Tanzania – large enough that its remoteness from the northern circuit feels earned rather than incidental. Visitor numbers stay low even in high season, and the effect on the wildlife is noticeable. Lion here are famously unbothered: sprawled across roads, indifferent to vehicles that pull up quietly alongside them. It is one of the better parks in Africa to watch them at length.
Elephant, hippo, giraffe and antelope are reliable from the first day. The park also holds striped hyena and sable antelope – species rare enough in Tanzania that a sighting here carries some weight.
- Main Destination:
- Ruaha National Park
- Accommodation:
- Ruaha River Lodge
Wildlife in Ruaha NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Day & Night Safari in Ruaha National Park
Day & Night Safari in Ruaha National Park
The Great Ruaha River runs through the park and rewards a full morning along its banks. Hippos gather in the backwaters; crocodiles rest on the river islands; the birdlife along the water is dense and varied. Lunch is at a riverside spot chosen by your guide.
The evening brings a night drive – genet, civet, bushbaby and the occasional lion or leopard move through the darkness in ways the daytime doesn't reveal. The park is quiet at night, with few other vehicles, and the sky out here is worth looking up at even when nothing is moving below it.
- Main Destination:
- Ruaha National Park
- Accommodation:
- Ruaha River Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park
Ruaha is home to so many antelope species that counting and memorizing their distinguishing features is entertainment of its own. The greater and lesser kudu have as-if chalk-drawn thin stripes across their bodies, and males boast beautiful screw horns. The sable antelopes come in glistening coal-black coats and horns like two curved sabers. The roan antelopes wear black masks with white spots around their eyes. Grant's gazelles with their beige coats, white bellies and lyre-shaped horns are one of the most graceful ungulates you will find in the savanna. Antelopes come in many other exciting varieties. If you're lucky, you might even come across a fawn-colored Liechtenstein's hartebeest that has distinctive back-curved S-shaped horns.
- Main Destination:
- Ruaha National Park
- Accommodation:
- Ruaha River Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Departure from Ruaha
Departure from Ruaha
After breakfast, your driver will transfer you to the airstrip for your bush flight out of Ruaha. The flight is not included in the package – your manager can arrange it if needed.
- Main Destination:
- No major destination visited
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
