12 Days & 11 Nights Southern Circuit
Selous NP, Mikumi NP, Ruaha NP, Udzungwa NP
12 Days Southern Tanzania Safari Highlights
- Selous, Mikumi, Ruaha, Udzungwas National Parks
- Boat safaris, game drives, walking experience, night game drive, waterfalls and hiking for endemic primates
- Start and end in Dar
Explore Selous Game Reserve and the open savannahs of Mikumi. Discover predators in Ruaha and hike to hidden waterfalls in Udzungwa
Day 1. Dar es Salaam – Selous Nyerere National Park
Meet and greet with your guide and drive to Selous with a picnic lunch. Explore this vast park with an afternoon boat safari initially bird watching, crocs an hippos as our main attention, before returning to your lodge for dinner next to the river listening to the hippos.
Day 2. Selous Nyerere National Park
Start early this next day by exploring this vast Game Reserve, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Five lakes and the mighty Rufiji River are the focal points of the photographic sector with a stunning variety of habitats and landscapes. Selous has the largest population of the endangered Wild Dog and chances are high to come across buffalo, crocodiles, elephant, giraffe, hippo, hyena, lion, waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra and many more. You will also be astounded by the bird life variety. Proceed to your accommodation
Day 3. Selous Nyerere National Park
After Morning breakfast and set yourself for a guided walking safari and return for hot lunch at the lodge, hence later afternoon game drive exploring other areas of the park. Accommodation is provided
Day 4: Selous Nyerere National Park – Morogoro
Depart from the lodge after breakfast with your picnic lunch, Enjoy another morning game drive as you cross through the Selous to exit the park through north gate towards Morogoro via Matombo natural forest of Uluguru Mountains. Break journey before mikumi National park overnight at Morogoro town.
Day 5. Morogoro-Mikumi National Park
Depart to Mikumi national park and spend the full day on game drive as you explore Mikumi National Park. An excellent place for close up encounters with lion, and you will have a great chance to see the very shy leopard also watch out for elephant, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, impala, jackal, warthog, hippo and many more. The open savannahs are surrounded by mountains making for great vistas and dramatic skies. Watch the sun set over the hippo pools and then return to your lodge accommodation.
Day 6. Mikumi National Park
Choose either full day on game drive or half day game drive as you explore Mikumi National Park and watch out for elephant, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, impala, jackal, warthog, hippo and many more. After a long day proceed to your accommodation
Day 7. Mikumi – Ruaha National Park
Drive to Ruaha through baobab filled valleys and with a stop in Iringa town to visit a craft market. In the afternoon your game drive will be all about the big game - watch out for lions hunting, see giant tuskers coming to the river and look out for leopards. Your accommodation is at a lodge or camp
Day 8. Ruaha National Park
Spend the next day exploring this unique National Park., you will lose no time in the morning to get a fresh kill or see predators hunting. The largest elephant population in East Africa is found in Ruaha and you will see plenty of giant tuskers’ dust bathing, crossing the river system, and gathering in enormous herds. You can also see cheetah, hyena, lion and leopard, and along with the normal plains game of zebra, buffalo, giraffe, impala, grants gazelle, bushbuck, waterbuck and kudu… you will also see oribi, klipspringer, roan and sable antelopes. Proceed for your accommodation.
Day 9. Ruaha National Park
After morning breakfast choose either full day game drive with picnic lunch or morning half day game drive and return for hot lunch before heading back for another afternoon game drive. In this day you will explore the river drive and the meanders of the Great Ruaha River, seek out the prides of lions of Mdonya. Proceed to your accommodation
Day 10. Ruaha National Park
After morning breakfast optional walking safari experience with a guided armed ranger proceed for your final afternoon game drive, return to your lodge in the evening. Night game drive. Proceed to your accommodation.
Day 11. Ruaha National Park – Udzungwa
After breakfast drive to Iringa with an optional of visiting natural pillars of Isimila Stone Age Archaeological site or Igeleke Rocks Art similar style to Kondoa drawings just few minutes from Iringa town, it’s best of the beaten place to visit coming across Iringa town. Walk through the canyons and explore the historic site of Isimila stone age. It was here, in the late 1950s, amid a dramatic landscape of eroded sandstone pillars, archaeologists unearthed one of the most significant Stone Age finds ever identified. Tools found at the site – hammerstones, axeheads, flints and scrapers – are estimated to be between 60,000 and 100,000 years old. Your local guide will be able to walk you through the history.
Enjoy your picnic lunch and proceed to Udzungwa National Park. Overnight at lodge or hotel
Day 12. Udzungwa NP – Dar
After early morning breakfast get yourself ready for a guided hiking experience. For those who are keen walkers, Udzungwa is a must on your safari itinerary. The Eastern Arc Mountain range is a biodiversity hotspot with countless endemic plants, birds and primates. This is a walkers’ paradise with waterfalls you can swim in, amazing viewpoints through the forest canopy and onto the savannah plains, and trails which take you to hidden valleys. There are a variety of trails accessible from the main gate of the park and all hikes are guided by a park ranger. Your guide will point out the primates that populate this park along with the amazing birdlife and butterflies. You can also learn more about Tanzanian culture and the plants used in traditional medicines.
After hiking experience enjoy your relaxed picnic lunch on your way back to Dar es salaam.