| Duration: | 6 Day(s) - 5 Night(s) |
| Tour Category: | Adventure Tours |
This is an itinerary that offers you the best of southern Tanzania. Southern Tanzania safaris are less famous than those of the north and the Parks receive few visitors. The parks of the south are vast and beautiful and offer a more remote wildlife experience.
The best point of departure in general is Dar es Salaam but your safari in the South can also start with a flight connection from Nairobi, Arusha, Zanzibar, or even Mafia Island.
Day 1: Dar-er-salaam to Ruaha National Park
Location: Dar-er-salaam to Ruaha National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Picnic Lunch, Dinner
Activity: Transfer to Ruaha with game drive safari en route
Early morning after breakfast we'll pick you up from your hotel in Dar-er-salaam and drive to Ruaha National Park for an optional evening game drive. This is a remote area with a dramatic topography of mountains, rivers, and plains.
Its rugged beauty is only matched by the variety and density of wildlife and exotic birdlife. The park is rich in plants and animals such as Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) which can not be found in any other national park. The park boasts an almost untouched and unexplored ecosystem, making visitors’ safari experience truly unique.
After enjoying an afternoon in this beautiful park you will be driven to Mdonya Old River Camp arriving for dinner and overnight.
Mdonya Old River Camp: Twelve spacious Meru-style walk-in tents are unobtrusively dotted along the riverbed, shaded by layered canopies of sycamore figs and acacia trees creating a natural immersion feel. Comfortably furnished, each tent has a private veranda with panoramic views of the riverbed and can cater for twin or double beds, with two expandable to suit families.
Each tent has private, solar-heated, ensuite bathrooms so you can rinse off under the African stars after a long day of game drives through the savanna.
Day 2: Ruaha National Park
Location: Ruaha National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Picnic Lunch, Dinner
Activity: Game Drive Safari
After breakfast, depart for a full-day game drive in Ruaha National Park. The park covers 12,950 square kilometers, with a big area of dry savanna. The forest contains Miombo woodlands, Acacia woodlands, Riverine forests, and Terminalia scrub. Ruaha National Park has a high diversity of plants and animals including elephants, buffalos, antelopes, and some rare and endangered species like a wild dog as well as over 450 bird species. Other animals in the park include lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, elands, impalas, bat-eared foxes, and Jackals.
The park serves as a water shade both for wildlife and human beings. This makes it economically significant as it supports agricultural activities downstream and contributes to hydroelectric power (HEP) for the country at the Mtera and Kidatu dams.
Drive back to Mdonya Old River Camp arriving in time to enjoy a sundowner around the campfire before sitting down for dinner.
Day 3: Udnzugwa Mountains
Location: Udnzugwa Mountains
Meals: Breakfast, Picnic Lunch, Dinner
Activity: Hiking & Trekking
After an early breakfast, we will depart for Udzungwa Mountains National Parks. There will be a picnic lunch en route. Then we'll proceed to a mountain hike via the campsite’s three trails (8-10hrs). There will be plenty of things to see, including beautiful vegetation, forests, waterfalls, birds, primates, butterflies, bushbuck, dickers, baboons, and monkeys.
Udzungwa is the largest and most biologically diverse of a chain of a dozen large forest-swathed mountains that rise majestically from the flat coastal scrub of eastern Tanzania. Known collectively as the Eastern Arc Mountains, this archipelago of isolated massifs has also been dubbed the ‘African Galapagos’ for its treasure-trove of endemic plants and animals, the most well-known of which is the delicate African violet.
Udzungwa Forest Tented Camp: The camp borders the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, in the Kilombero Valley in southern Tanzania. The lodge is known locally as Hondo Hondo meaning "hornbill" in Swahili, due to the amazing number of these remarkable birds that make the area their home. The camp provides a high standard of accommodation and great access to Tanzania's remarkable wildlife and landscapes through cooperation with the local community and the provision of excellent facilities.
Built by a local workforce and providing employment throughout both the construction and operational phases, the ultimate goal is to increase international awareness of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, bringing in more visitors to appreciate the remarkable diversity of wildlife here and to contribute to the improvement of local community livelihoods.
Day 4: Udzungwa to Mikumi National Park
Location: Udzungwa to Mikumi National Park
Meals Breakfast, Picnic Lunch, Dinner
Activity: Transfer to Mikumi with Game Drive Safari
After breakfast, we'll travel to Mikumi National Park for game viewing. This will include a packed lunch. Mikumi National Park abuts the northern border of Africa's biggest game reserve - the Selous – and is transected by the surfaced road between Dar es Salaam and Iringa. It is thus the most accessible part of a 75,000 square kilometer (47,000 square miles) tract of wilderness that stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean. The open horizons and abundant wildlife of the Mkata Floodplain, the popular centerpiece of Mikumi, draw frequent comparisons to the more famous Serengeti Plains.
After a day of game viewing and photographing you will be driven to Vuma Hills Tented Camp.
Vuma Hills Tented Camp: This camp is perched above the trees stretching over the wilderness southwest of Mikumi National Park.
Day 5: Mikumi National Park
Location: Mikumi National Park
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Activity: Game drive safari
Early morning game drives at Mikumi for 3 hours. Then back to the lodge for breakfast. In the afternoon we'll continue with the game drive and have a packed lunch. Criss-crossed by a good circuit of game-viewing roads, the Mkata Floodplain is perhaps the most reliable place in Tanzania for sightings of the powerful eland, the world’s largest antelope.
The equally impressive greater kudu and sable antelope haunt the miombo-covered foothills of the mountains that rise from the park’s borders. Lions survey their grassy kingdom – and the zebra, wildebeest, impala, and buffalo herds that migrate across it – from the flattened tops of termite mounds, or sometimes, during the rains, from perches high in the trees. Giraffes forage in the isolated acacia stands that fringe the Mkata River, islets of shade favored also by Mikumi's elephants.
Drive back to Vuma Hills Tented Camp for dinner and overnight.
Day 6: Mikumi/ Dar-er-Salaam
Location: Mikumi/ Dar-er-salaam
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Activity: Transfer to Dar-er-salaam
Enjoy a morning game drive in Mikumi National Park. Early lunch at the camp, followed by departure transfer to Dar es Salaam. Drop off at the airport for your flight back home or to Zanzibar for a beach holiday.
Price Includes:
Accommodation and meals as stipulated on each itinerary
Ground transportation with an English-speaking driver/guide or naturalist guide
Game drives or sightseeing depending on the itinerary – where indicated
Park or reserve entry fees – where applicable
Price Excludes:
Airport or border transfers – unless stated otherwise on the itinerary
Visas
Gratuities
Inoculations and personal insurance
Any internal flights and departure taxes (with Tanzania)
International flights and departure taxes
Optional activities and excursions
Items of a personal nature such as beverages, telephone, postage, etc.
Holiday (Christmas, Easter) and other seasonal surcharges
