TANZANIA SOUTHERN CIRCUIT SAFARI-9 days.
To enquire about rates, availability or to make a booking for this safari , please email us at tours@tourseastafrica.com or telephone/watsapp +44790.863.9450.
Tanzania’s southern circuit parks of Ruaha, Selous, Mikumi and Udzungwa present some of the most remarkable safari experiences in Tanzania. Southern circuit Tanzania safaris offer a wide range of safari experiences from walking safaris, safari game drives, river boating safaris etc. The southern circuit has far much fewer tourists that it’s northern circuit cousins. The South and West of Tanzania are very often shadowed by the more frequently visited Serengeti for its great migration safaris and the iconic Ngorongoro Crater. Nevertheless, the parks of Ruaha, Mikumi, Selous, and Udzungwa in the South offer incredible safari game watching as well as other safari holiday activities. Your safari vehicle will invariably be the only vehicle in your safari surroundings making you feel that you are truly on a private safari with the vast savannah, wetlands and fantastic view at your sole disposal.
Additionally, several game species in the southern circuit of Tanzania are not found in the northern circuit of Tanzania. For example it is only in Ruaha that one is able to find the lesser and greater kudu, sable antelope and roan all in one park. Ruaha is also the most southern habitat for Grant’s gazelle. Safaris in the southern circuit are best started in Dar es salaam and can be extended to and finish in Zanzibar. You would only need to take a ferry from Dar to Zanzibar.
The safari holiday jewel of the southern circuit is the vast Selous, the largest game reserve in Africa. The Selous has an exciting array of tour activities from night and day walking safaris to fly camping tours, hot air balloon safaris, boat cruises on the Rufiji River as well as the traditional safari game drives typical of the north in Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Ruaha park is also a safari haven with its high density of cats, antelopes and baobab trees.
Mikumi and Katavi national parks are also fine safari destinations with unique tour activities, whereas Mahale and Gombe on the shores of Lake Tanganyika also offer some of the best chimpanzee tracking opportunities only rivalled in East Africa by Kibale National Park in Uganda or Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda. Equally not to be missed on a safari in southern Tanzania is Udzungwa mountains which is a birder’s paradise as well as a wide array of animals to be found here. Udzungwa also has a high concentration of forests, waterfalls and endemics.
Safari Itinerary.
Day 1:Selous Game reserve.
On arrival to Dar es salaam airport or pick up from your Dar es salaam hotel. You will be briefed about your safari by our expert driver guide and then transfer to Selous Game reserve. The drive will take approximately 5-6hrs. Arrival is anticipated in the early afternoon. You will check into your safari lodge or tented safari camp before going out again on a boat safari along the mighty Rufiji river for a chance to find crocodiles, hippos and abundant bird species. We later return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 2 :Selous Game reserve.
Today you will go for a morning walking safari and afternoon safari game drive in search of animals and wildlife that are resident in the vast Selous National Park. Later return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 3: Selous Game reserve.
Today you continue with full day game drives in Selous National park, culminating in the northern part of the Selous with stunning scenery and abundant wildlife herds. You will then return to the camp at around 6pm for dinner and overnight
Day 4: Mikumi National Park.
Today we depart from the safari heavyweight of Selous. We go out with a bang as we continue with game drives enroute in the northern sector of Selous as we drive towards Mikumi park. Along the way on safari you will spot a variety of bird species and other game including zebras, lions, leopards, giraffes, hippos, wildebeest, hartebeest and many more animal species. Arrival at the Mikumi safari lodge or tented camp is foreseen late in the evening.
Day 5: Mikumi National Park
Full day safari game drives in Mikumi National Park in search of animals and birds.
Day 6: Udzungwa Mountains Park.
Mikumi park is a fairly small proposition. After breakfast it is time to depart from Mikumi and head to Udzungwa mountains national park. We arrive at Udzungwa in the early afternoon and proceed to the forest to visit Sanje falls as avid birders do some serious bird watching enroute. On arrival to Sanje falls, one gets dramatic views of the great Kilombero valley below.
Day 7: Ruaha National Park.
Today we leave Uduzungwa mountains as the safari continues towards the beautiful wildlife haven of Ruaha park. We shall be given picnic lunch boxes for lunch enroute. Arrival to Ruaha is foreseen in the early afternoon. We check in at Ruaha river lodge which has fantastic views of the great Ruaha river. Time permitting we shall have an evening game drive in Ruaha and later return to the Ruaha river lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 8 :Ruaha National Park
Full day game drives in Ruaha National Park
Day 9 :Ruaha National Park.
Early morning game drive before transfer to the Ruaha airstrip for your flight back to Dar es salaam. On arrival to Dar es salaam airport, you will be met by our airport representative who will assist you with transfers to Dar es salaam airport international departures for your flight to the next destination, which could either be home, Zanzibar for a beach holiday extension or to either Uganda or Rwanda for a short gorilla tour extension.