9 Days Safari to Ruaha, Mikumi and Selous

We pick you at your house/hotel in Dar es Salaam and head out of time by daybreak. A five hours’ drive will take you to Selous Game Reserve, Africa’s largest protected wildlife area. As you arrive the mighty Rufiji River we will park the cars by the river bank and place your luggage in the boat for the transfer over to the other side of the river. Lunch will be prepared, but you may want to check in first before you can relax with a tasty lunch overlooking the river. In the afternoon, we take you for a boat safari, up the river to find the hippopotamus, crocodiles, birds and nests in the river wall. You may also see the local fishermen swimming in the river, or the ladies doing laundry while the children are taking a bath. The boat safari has been called; romantic, exciting, relaxing and even amazing as the hippopotamus is very photogenic and the sunset is painting the skies in the brightest romantic colors.

Destination: Selous Game Reserve
Accommodation: Selous Wilderness Camp/Rufiji River Camp/Lake Manze

Today you enjoy a full day of safari in Selous Game Reserve, the land of the elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, antelopes as well as lions and other predators. This area is more than 50 km2, that is larger than Belgium. A UNESCO world heritage site, Selous gives you extraordinary possibilities for wildlife experiences. Since Selous is a game reserve (not a national park), we have the options of following the herds of animals outside the roads, into their natural habitats which give you the best chance for getting you the “million dollars” picture. You will return to the lodge before the sun sets. At the lodge, you can enjoy some snack around the fire as you watch the sun setting over the mighty Rufiji River. You will be served a delicious dinner before you go back to your tent/bungalow.

You start in the morning after a delicious breakfast and head out in the bush with your packed lunch. In the evening, you can cool down in the pool, or just enjoy the sun setting on the other side of the river sharing safari stories around the fire or you can just relax in the cozy sitting area before you enjoy a tasty dinner.

Destination: Selous Game Reserve
Accommodation: Selous Wilderness Camp/Rufiji River Camp/Lake Manze

Before breakfast you take some tea or coffee and some fruits before heading in to the woods by foot. Together with a guide and an armed ranger you will explore the nature and the smaller habitants in the bush of Selous. This exciting morning, you will be working up an appetite and as you return to the lodge they will have prepared a solid breakfast for you to enjoy. Today you will enjoy a full day game drive in Selous Game Reserve.

Destination: Selous Game Reserve
Accommodation: Selous Wilderness Camp/Rufiji River Camp/Lake Manze

Today you will check out of the lodge and start your drive to Morogoro, a village at the foot of the intriguing Uluguru Mountains. On the way, you will drive through Selous Game Reserve, passing a lot of agriculture villages before you start an adventurous climb up in the mountain, through the rain forest and down to Morogoro and onwards to Mikumi National Park. In the afternoon, you go for an afternoon game drive to get to know Mikumi before dinner and another good night’s sleep in the wild! The savannah inside the park allow your eyes to spot wildlife from a great distance, giving you wonderful pictures either for your camera, or forever embedded in your memory. Many of Mikumi’s animals are used to visitors on two legs or four tires, so here you’ll have the opportunity to meet species like elephant, giraffe, wildebeest, and antelopes and if lucky, predators like lion and leopard.

Destination: Mikumi National Park
Accommodation: Mikumi Wildlife Camp/Vuma Hills

Full day Game drive in Mikumi National Park. If you wish one of the days, you can go for a hike in Udzungwa National Park. It is about 1,5 – 2 hours’ drive each way, and about 3-6 hours hike in the rain forest, depending on which route you like to go. Alternatively, you spend the full day in Mikumi with the animals.

Destination: Mikumi National Park
Accommodation: Mikumi Wildlife Camp/Vuma Hills

This day you start early in the morning with some fruits, biscuits and some coffee or tea before you head back into the wild before even the birds wake up. This is the best chance to find the nocturnal animals, and some people may be lucky enough to find them “in action” hunting or eating at these hours. Around eight or nine you go back to the lodge for breakfast (if you did not bring it with you). After breakfast, you head to Ruaha National Park. If convenient you may stop in Iringa town for a cultural lunch before heading to Ruaha – one of the most untouched national parks in Tanzania.

Interesting fact: yearly Ruaha has as many visitors as Serengeti National Park have on an average daily basis.

Destination: Ruaha National Park
Accommodation: Ruaha River Lodge/Mdonya Old River/Mwaguzi Tented Camp

These days you enjoy full day game drives. Ruaha’s unusually high diversity of antelope is due to their liking of the acacia savannah of East Africa and the miombo woodland belt. Grant’s gazelle and lesser kudu occur here at the very south of their range, alongside the miombo-associated sable and roan antelope, and one of East Africa’s largest populations of greater kudu, the park emblem, distinguished by the male’s magnificent corkscrew horns.

This is the gems of Ruaha: For predators and large mammals are very easily seen during the dry season (mid May to December) while during the wet season (January to April) the park is best for the bird-watchers, lush scenery and wildflowers. The male greater kudu is most visible in June, the breeding season.

Destination: Ruaha National Park
Accommodation: Ruaha River Lodge/Mdonya Old River/Mwaguzi Tented Camp

This morning you enjoy the last of the wild before you fly over to Zanzibar.