Itinerary:

Day 1: Daressalam

Welcome at the Daressalam International Airport. Our driver will transfer you to the Hotel Sea Cliff for overnight. 

Day 2: Selous Game Reserve

After breakfast, we depart from Daressalam and drive to the Selous game reserve, one of the more historic protected areas in Tanzania and the biggest game reserve in Africa. The Selous Game Reserve was named after Frederick Courteney Selous, a British explorer and hunter in East Africa who wrote a book about the region and his travels, and was tragically killed in land now named after him during the First World War. En route we will have our packed lunch picnic, do sightseeing of the countryside and also visit a Selous Village. We arrive for dinner and overnight at the Selous Safari Camp (or other camp of similar standard if not available*).  

Day 3: Selous Game Reserves

After breakfast we depart for a boat safari on the great Rufiji River, the Selous’ aorta. Grazing antelopes, crocodiles and hippos are commonly seen as well as black and white colobus monkeys in the riverine forests. Nowhere else can one make boat safaris through more spectacular wildlife concentrations. Almost 440 species of birds can be found in the Selous, that varies from grassy woodlands and plains, to rocky outcrops cut by the Rufiji River whose tributaries form a network of lakes, lagoons and channels. Volcanic hot springs even burst forth in places. We return for lunch at the camp. In the afternoon we depart for game drives in the reserve. Dinner and overnight at the Selous Safari Camp (or other camp of similar standard if not available*). 

Day 4: Mikumi National Park

After breakfast we depart with packed lunch to the Mikumi National Park. En route we have the chance to do game viewing. The open horizons and abundant wildlife of the Mkata Floodplain, the popular centerpiece of Mikumi, draw frequent comparisons to the more famous Serengeti Plains. Lions survey their grassy kingdom – and the zebra, wildebeest, impala and buffalo herds that migrate across it – from the flattened tops of termite mounds, or sometimes, during the rains, from perches high in the trees. Giraffes forage in the isolated acacia stands that fringe the Mkata River, islets of shade favored also by Mikumi’s elephants. We arrive for dinner and overnight at the Vuma / Foxes Camp (or other camp of similar standard if not available*). 

Day 5: Mikumi National Park

After breakfast depart for game drives in the park, returning for lunch and relaxing at the poolside. In the afternoon depart for game drives in the park, returning for dinner and overnight at Vuma / Foxes Camp (or other camp of similar standard if not available*). 

Day 6: Ruaha National Park

After an early breakfast we depart with a packed lunch to the Ruaha National Park. We will have game drives en route. Ruaha has an aura of untrammelled wilderness and protects a vast tract of the rugged, semi-arid bush country that characterises central Tanzania. Its lifeblood is the Great Ruaha River, which courses along the eastern boundary in a flooded torrent during the height of the rains, but dwindling thereafter to a scattering of precious pools surrounded by a blinding sweep of sand and rock. A fine network of game-viewing roads follows the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries, where , during the dry season, impala, waterbuck and other antelopes risk their life for a sip of life-sustaining water. And the risk is considerable: not only from the prides of 20-plus lion that lord over the savannah, but also from the cheetahs that stalk the open grassland and the leopards that lurk in tangled riverine thickets. This impressive array of large predators is boosted by both striped and spotted hyena, as well as several conspicuous packs of the highly endangered African wild dog. We arrive for dinner and overnight at the Jongomero Camp (or other camp of similar standard if not available*). 

Day 7: Ruaha National Park

After breakfast we depart with a packed lunch for walking safari with a ranger and guide. We will have our packed lunch at a forest and then proceed with a game drive in the afternoon in the park. We return for dinner and overnight at Jongomero Camp (or other camp of similar standard if not available*). 

Day 8: Daressalam

After breakfast we depart with packed lunch for en route game viewing and then drive back to Daressalam.