Off the Beaten Track Safari

R76111,00

We will visit the Nyerere National Park (formerly Selous Game Reserve) with its mighty Rufiji River, interconnected lakes and doum palm forests. The Nyerere offers boat safaris, game drives (with off-road game driving) and walking safaris. We then continue on a Ruaha National Park safari with its excellent predator sightings and large elephant populations. Both these destinations are remote wilderness areas that offer an off the beaten track experience.

Dates:

Valid for travel: 06 – 14 March 2024

Category: Tanzania

Description
Additional information

Day 1: Dar es Salaam Airport / Nyerere National Park

At Dar es Salaam Airport, you will be welcomed by our representative to assist in taking you to domestic departures for your flight by light aircraft to the Mtemere Airstrip (approximately a 50-minute flight) in the Nyerere National Park. Meet and greet by your safari team on arrival with your first game drive en route to the camp. Enjoy an afternoon activity. The rivers and lakes of the Nyerere are the lifeblood of a park that boasts a variety of biomes, some fabulous game, including elephant, wild dog, buffalo, hippo, crocodile, and lion, and over 440 species of bird.

Stay: Roho ya Selous (tent)

Meals: Dinner, breakfast & a selection of alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks

Day 2 & 3: Nyerere National Park

Enjoy TWO full days in the park with morning and afternoon game drives or discover the secrets which lie in the waters of the Rufiji River with boat safaris or explore the bush with a walking safari. The park is known for its numerous lion prides, over 50 percent of the remaining endangered African wild dog population, and over 400 bird species. There also is an abundance of zebra, impala, giraffe, sable, kudu, wildebeest, colobus, and vervet monkeys.

Stay: Roho ya Selous (tent)

Meals: Lunch, dinner, breakfast & a selection of alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks

Day 4: Nyerere National Park / Ruaha National Park

After breakfast, you’ll enjoy one last game drive en route to the airstrip for your flight by light aircraft to the Msembe airstrip at Ruaha National Park, where your guide is waiting to drive you to camp, with en-route game viewing. Ruaha, the largest National Park in Tanzania, is an exciting, action-packed place to visit. The dramatic landscape of baobabs and spiky palms is the background for excellent lion and leopard sightings and is home to Tanzania’s largest elephant population. This is a remote wilderness area that offers an authentic and profound safari experience.

Stay: Jabali Ridge (Suite)

Meals: Lunch, dinner, breakfast & selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks

Day 5 & 6: Ruaha National Park

Spend TWO full days in this remote park. Safaris in Ruaha is wild and beautiful and deliver superb game viewing. With fewer camps, it tends to be less crowded, allowing you to enjoy the African bush and all that it has to offer, in peace and tranquillity.

Stay: Jabali Ridge (Suite)

Meals: Lunch, dinner, breakfast & selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks

Day 7: Ruaha National Park / Dar es Salaam

Enjoy morning activities before your transfer to the airstrip for your flight by light aircraft to Dar es Salaam Airport for your onward flight home.

End of service

Included

~Flight by light aircraft from Dar es Salaam to Nyerere National Park (Mtemere ~airstrip)
~Return transfers from the Mtemere airstrip
~3 Nights at Roho Ya Selous
~Tent
~Breakfast, lunch & dinner
~Selection of alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks
~Laundry service
~Lodge safari vehicle on a shared base
~Selous park fees
~Tourism levy
~All game drives and activities, including:
~Game drives
~Boating safaris
~Guided walks
~Fishing (catch & release)
~Flight by light aircraft from Mtemere airstrip to Ruaha National Park (Msembe airstrip)
~Return transfers from the Msembe airstrip
~3 Nights at Jabali Ridge
~Suite
~Breakfast, lunch & dinner
~Selection of alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks
~Laundry service
~Lodge safari vehicle on a shared base
~Ruaha park fees
~Tourism levy
~All game drives and activities, including:
~Game drives
~Night drives
~Guided walks
~Flight by light aircraft from Msembe airstrip to Dar es Salaam Airport
~Comprehensive support from our operational office in Tanzania for the duration of the safari.
~Travel information pack

Excluded

~International Flights
~Entry visa to Tanzania (SA passport DO NOT require a visa for Tanzania)
~Travel Insurance (Highly recommended)
~Meals and drinks not specified
~Laundry services
~Gratuities to the driver/guide and hotel staff:
~Driver guide – suggested at USD $10 per person per day
~Hotel staff – at your own discretion
~All expenses of personal nature

Parks

National Parks
Nyerere National Park (Selous GR)
Located in south-eastern Tanzania in a remote and rarely visited part of the country, the Nyerere National Park is Africa’s largest protected wildlife reserve, covering more than 5% of Tanzania’s total area. Due to its remoteness, it is mostly accessed only by small aircraft and the reserve has thus remained one of the untouched gems of Tanzania .

The mighty Rufiji River , the largest river in East Africa , is home to the largest crocodile and hippo populations in Africa. It is one of the reserve’s major attractions as it is also swarming with fish, bringing about some of the world’s best birding opportunities. This wonderfully diverse, vast and well-watered habitat has the right ingredients to hold an unusually high number of animals of all shapes and sizes as well as sustain an extraordinary array of different vegetation types. Nyerere has an estimated 2 100 plant species, 350 bird species, 60 000 elephants , 100 000 Cape buffaloes and over a quarter of the worlds’ approximately 4 000 remaining rare wild dogs .

Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park in Tanzania is considered the undiscovered gem and is often called “Tanzania’s best kept secret”. Spectacular landscapes, a huge variety of plant and bird life and an abundance of animals make up some of the Ruaha National Park attractions and also makes it the perfect safari destination. Currently only one-third of the park area is used for tourism leaving the greater majority of wilderness untouched and undiscovered. The central spine of the park is the watershed between the Mzombe and the Great Ruaha River , with its dramatic escarpment covered in large stretches of miombo woodland.

The plains beneath the woodlands has vegetation ranging from dry bush country to treeless grasslands, swamps and evergreen forests intersected by the many sand rivers that are such an impressive feature of this area. Ruaha represents a transition zone where eastern and southern species of flora and fauna overlap and in all and some 1 650 plant species can be found. Ruaha is a bird watcher’s paradise with approximately 526 bird species (more than half of those found in the entire country!).