Ascend to  African Sky, spend Nights under the Stars in Acacia woodlands eventually relax at pristine African beaches

Bagamoyo

Selous

Saadani

Mikumi

Udzungwa

Ruaha

Kitulo Plateau

Katavi

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Bagamoyo

Bagamoyo is a historical town and also famous for its pristine white sand beaches.

Bagamoyo is located 75km to the north of Dar es Salaam, on the coast opposite Zanzibar, is the former capital of German East Africa, Bagamoyo. Possessing a good, natural harbour ideal for sailing vessels and dhows; it was once the centre of the notorious slave trade.

Its name is derived from the word Bwagamoyo, which means, "here I throw down my heart" reflecting the desperation and despair of the “broken hearted captives whose voyage into the unknown began here. The present police station, near the beach front was the first stone building in Bagamoyo. Originally an Arab residence it was one time the old prison where slaves were herded through underground tunnels to waiting dhows. The city was also the starting point for the first Europeans explorers on their to search for the source of the Nile.

Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, and Speke all passed through here.

Livingstone's body was laid to rest here before being taken first to Zanzibar and then England. The Mission has a Museum with a wonderful collection of photographs and mementoes relating to Livingstone and to German colonial times. A house where Henry Morton Stanley lived a century ago can be seen in solitary splendour near beach

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Selous Game Reserve

Uniqueness:

Selous is home to one of the single largest remaining elephant populations in the world. Most of these elephants are found in the remote and wildly beautiful Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage Site. The name derives from hunter-explorer Frederick Courtenay Selous, a keen naturalist and conservationist as well as a hunter. He was killed in the First World War in the Beho Beho region of the Reserve.

Size:

How to get there:

The Reserve can be reached from Dar-es-Salaam by road, air charter, and rail (Tazara).

Best time to get there:

The best time to go is in the cool season between the end of June and the end of October.

Activities:

Walking safaris can be taken from the camps in the Reserve, in the company of an armed guard

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Saadani National Park 

Uniqueness:

The only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa to boast an Indian Ocean beachfront, it possesses all the attributes that make Tanzania’s tropical coastline and islands so popular with European sun-worshippers. Yet it is also the one place where those idle hours of sunbathing might be interrupted by an elephant strolling past, or a lion coming to drink at the nearby waterhole! 

Under the Sun shine, palm trees sway in a cooling oceanic breeze. White sand and blue water sparkle alluringly beneath the tropical sun. Traditional dhows sail slowly past, propelled by billowing white sails, while Swahili fishermen cast their nets below a brilliant red sunrise.

Protected as a game reserve since the 1960s, in 2002 it was expanded to cover twice its former area. The reserve suffered greatly from poaching prior to the late 1990s, but recent years have seen a marked turnaround, due to a concerted clampdown on poachers, based on integrating adjacent villages into the conservation drive.

Today, a surprisingly wide range of grazers and primates is seen on game drives and walks, among them giraffe, buffalo, warthog, common waterbuck, reedbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest, red duiker, greater kudu, eland, sable antelope, yellow baboon and vervet monkey.  

Herds of up to 30 elephants are encountered with increasing frequency, and several lion prides are resident, together with leopard, spotted hyena and black-backed jackal. Boat trips on the mangrove-lined Wami River come with a high chance of sighting hippos, crocodiles and a selection of marine and riverine birds, including the mangrove kingfisher and lesser flamingo, while the beaches form one of the last major green turtle breeding sites on mainland Tanzania. 

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Mikumi National Park

Mikumi, to the north of the Selous, is only 283 km away from Dar-es-salaam. The Park was established to protect the environment and resident animals and is also an important educational centre for students of ecology and conservation. The Mikumi flood plain is the main feature of the Park along with the bordering mountain ranges. Animals commonly found here include lion, eland, hartebeest, buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, hippo and elephant. The Mikumi elephants are mainly grazers and do not cause tree damage. Lions roam the Mikumi plains and will take refuge in the branches of trees. Wild dogs can be seen in packs here.

Mikumi's vegetation includes woodland, swamp and grassland with two water holes, Mkata and Chamgore. Apart from the saddle-bill stork, hammerkop and malachite kingfisher, you will also find monitor lizard and a deadly python inhabiting the pools

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Udzungwa Mountain National Park

Udzungwa, Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a recently established conservation area of about 2,000 sq. km in the Iringa and Morogoro regions of south – central Tanzania. The Great Ruaha River to the north and the Mikumi – Ifakara road to the east, border the park. The major attraction of the park is it bio-diversity and unique rainforest, where many rare plants, not found anywhere else in the world, have been identified, from a tiny African violet to 30 meter high trees.

As well as being home to about six types of primates, including two endemic species the Iringa red Colobus monkey and the Sanje crested mangabey.

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Ruaha National Park

Ruaha National Park; The Kisigio and Rungwa River Game Reserves and Ruaha National Park total a protected area of 25,600 sq. kilometers. Ruaha is Tanzania's second largest national park and one of the wildest. Crocodiles, hippos and clawless otters soak and play in the water and on the banks of the great Ruaha River. Reedbuck, waterbuck and buffalo drink, ever watchful for lion, leopard, jackal, spotted hyena and hunting dog. The grassland borders of the River are home to greater and lesser kudu, a large elephant population, eland, the hotel, Grant's gazelle, dik-dik, zebra, warthog, mongoose, wild cat, porcupine and the shy civet.
There are plenty of Eurasian migrant birds on their outward and return journeys as well as resident kingfishers, plovers, hornbills, green wood hoopoes, bee-eaters, sunbirds and egrets. The best months to go are between July and November when the animals are concentrated around shrinking water holes.

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Kitulo National Park

Kitulo is located in Njombe district within Iringa Region.

With an area  of  412.9 sq km, Locals refer to the Kitulo Plateau as Bustani ya Mungu - The Garden of God – while botanists have dubbed it the Serengeti of Flowers, host to ‘one of the great floral spectacles of the world’. And Kitulo is indeed a rare botanical marvel, home to a full 350 species of vascular plants, including 45 varieties of terrestrial orchid, which erupt into a riotous wildflower display of breathtaking scale and diversity during the main rainy season of late November to April. Perched at around 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) between the rugged peaks of the Kipengere, Poroto and Livingstone Mountains, the well-watered volcanic soils of Kitulo support the largest and most important Montane grassland community in Tanzania.

One of the most important watersheds for the Great Ruaha River, Kitulo is well known for its floral significance – not only a multitude of orchids, but also the stunning yellow-orange red-hot poker and a variety of aloes, proteas, geraniums, giant lobelias, lilies and aster daisies, of which more than 30 species are endemic to southern Tanzania. Big game is sparsely represented, though a few hardy mountain reedbuck and eland still roam the open grassland.

But Kitulo – a botanist and hiker’s paradise - is also highly alluring to birdwatchers. Tanzania’s only population of the rare Denham’s bustard is resident, alongside a breeding colony of the endangered blue swallow and such range-restricted species as mountain marsh widow, Njombe cisticolas and Kipengere seedeater. Endemic species of butterfly, chameleon, lizard and frog further enhance the biological wealth of God’s Garden.

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Katavi National Park 

Katavi National Park is located South west of Tanzania and is one on the upcoming tourist attractions in Tanzania is located southward close to the shores of Lake Tanganyika (longest freshwater lake in the world – (677kms) second deepest (1,443m). Gazetted in 1974 as a National Park, Katavi covers a total land area of 2,253 kilometers, and the closest town is Mpanda Town, some 40 kilometers away. It is a remote, unspoiled beautiful wild park with unique attractions ranging from Lake Katavi, different wildlife species and the scenery. Katavi National Park boasts to be among the most natural wildlife sanctuaries in Africa, where human interference to nature is minimal. Located in Rukwa region, Katavi National Park is abundant in wildlife species, including the big mammals and plants. Crocodiles and Hippos are seen basking on the banks of the Katuma River, which connects Lake Katavi and Lake Chada. Lake Chada is particularly rich in wildlife and also in its concentration of crocodiles. Miombo woodlands with scattered acacia trees comprise the main vegetation of the park. Other Attraction in the park includes walking, driving and camping safaris.

NB: Pick pictures from www.tanzaniaparks.com

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Sample Itinerary to explore Southern Circuit

Day 1: Dar – Selous Game Reserve

-In the morning at 0800hrs pick up from your hotel from Dar es Salaam or Dar International Airport and travel to Selous Game Reserve with packed lunch that you will have it on the way. You will arrive in the Reserve in the late afternoon, if time allows you will do evening game drives. Dinner and overnight in Lodges Tented Camps or Budget Campsites. FB

Day 2: Game drives in Selous Game Reserve

- Wake up at 0600hrs for early morning game drives in Selous game Reserve with Sunrise. Mind you that Selous G.R is larger than Switzerland and Denmark, that reserves largest population of elephant in Tanzania as well as large number of buffalo, Hippo and Wild dog, others are Lion, Eland, bushbuck, giraffe, the hotel, baboon, zebra, Crocodile, greater kudu and is the chance to see the rare Sable antelope. Breakfast at 0845hrs in your accommodation; there after proceed with game drives, all meals and overnight in your accommodation FB.

Day 3: Walking and Boat tour in Selous Game Reserve

- Breakfast in your accommodation then launch a walking trip in the wilderness accompanied with an armed ranger guide who will guide you on walking to get close to the animals for fine pictures. You will have hot lunch in your accommodation before the drive takes you to Rufiji River for afternoon Boat tour. Evening the drive will take you back to your accommodation for dinner experience and overnight. FB

Day 4: Selous - Mikumi N.P

- Walk up at 0600hrs for armouring game drives in the reserve and at 085jhrs back to your     accommodation for breakfast, then check out from Selous and travel to Mikumi National Park with packed lunch and fame viewing on the way. You will arrive in the early afternoon followed by relaxation at leisure in your accommodation waiting for dinner and overnight. FB.

Day 5: Full day in Mikumi N.P

- Breakfast in your accommodation followed by both morning and afternoon game drives in the park a home to Elephant, Lion, Wild dog, Zebra, Hyena, Buffalo, Wildebeest, Eland, Hartebeest, Crocodile, Lizard and other residents. Over 300 species of birds have been observed in this park. You will have your lunch dinner and overnight in Mikumi Wildlife lodge, Tented Camp or Campsite FB.

Day 6: Mikumi – Ruaha N.P

- Wake up at 0600hrs for early morning game drives in Mikumi National park at 00845jhrs return to your accommodation for breakfast. After breakfast check out and with packed lunch travel to Ruaha National Park where you will arrive in the afternoon. Evening short game drives in the park or relaxation at leisure in Ruaha River Lodge Jongomero Camp or Campsite FB

Day 7: Game drives in Ruaha N.P

- Breakfast in your accommodation, followed by both morning and afternoon game, drives in Ruaha National Park, look for Roan and Sable antelope Hippo, Crocodile, waterbuck, Reedbuck and Buffalo venture to the rivers edge to drink, attracting the attention of Lion, Leopard, Hyena, Wild dog and jackal and many more antelopes include Dik dik. There are many birds in the park include Eurasia migrants that Comes to visit the park twice a year. You will have all meals and overnight in your accommodation. FB

Day 8: Ruaha – Dar

- After breakfast check out from the camp and return journey to Dar arriving in the late afternoon.

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PRICE INCLUDES: All Park entrance fees

   :accommodation based on 3 meals and a litre of water daily

   :Two Transfers, town hotel or airport 

   :Excellent 4WD Vehicle which rebuilt for safari

   :Driver guide, allowances and salaries.

NOT INCLUDES:

   :Hot and cold drinks 

   :Cigarettes, Tips and, (Sleeping bags if camping)

   :And all not mentioned in the plan