Tanzania's Southern Parks: Nyerere (Selous) and Ruaha

1. Day 1: Arrive in Dar es Salaam

   Julius Nyerere International Airport to Dar es Salaam

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Dar es Salaam
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR), Tanzania's main gateway on the Indian Ocean coast. We meet you after arrivals and drive you to a hotel near the airport, chosen so that tomorrow's light aircraft is a short ride away rather than a crawl through the city's traffic. Before dinner your See Sight Tours guide hosts a welcome briefing: how a day in a fly-in camp runs, why game drives start at first light and pause through the midday heat, the rules for walking with an armed ranger, and how to repack into one soft bag of about 15 kg for the small planes. Anything that does not fit can stay in storage here until you fly home. If you land early, rest at the hotel; a short visit to the city's fish market or national museum is possible only when your arrival time and the traffic allow, and your guide will say on the day.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR)
   • Welcome briefing and dinner with your guide
   • Bag storage in Dar es Salaam for anything over the light-aircraft limit

   Optional experiences

   • Short city visit if you land early: fish market or National Museum, with your guide

   Free time: Rest of the day free

   Activity: Any arrival time works on day 1. If your flight lands late, your guide catches you up at breakfast.

2. Day 2: Fly to Nyerere, a boat on the Rufiji

   Dar es Salaam to Nyerere National Park by light aircraft, then the Rufiji River by boat

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Nyerere National Park
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast we drive to the airport for a light aircraft of about 45 minutes south-west over farmland and coastal forest to an airstrip in Nyerere National Park, the protected area carved in 2019 from the northern part of the Selous Game Reserve. The flight saves a long, rough road day. A camp vehicle meets the plane, and you often see giraffe or impala on the short drive to camp. Lunch is at camp, then a rest through the heat of the early afternoon. Around four o'clock we board a small boat on the Rufiji River or one of the lakes beside it. This is the part of the trip the northern parks cannot give you: hippo pods surfacing a few boat lengths away, crocodiles on the sandbanks, fish eagles, kingfishers and storks, and elephants and buffalo coming down to drink as the light goes gold. We are back at camp by dusk for dinner.

   Included

   • Light-aircraft flight from Dar es Salaam to Nyerere National Park
   • Late-afternoon boat safari on the Rufiji River or its lakes
   • Nyerere National Park and concession fees

   Free time: Early afternoon free at camp

   Activity: About 45 minutes in the air and a short airstrip transfer. The boat trip is about 2 to 3 hours, seated.

   

3. Day 3: Nyerere on foot, then by vehicle

   Nyerere National Park: walking safari and game drive

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Nyerere National Park
   Day 3 details

   We start at first light, before the heat, with a walking safari. An armed park ranger leads, with a walking guide, at a slow pace over about 4 to 6 km of flat, uneven ground. The point is not distance but detail: fresh tracks in the sand, dung that tells you who passed in the night, termite mounds, birdsong you would never hear over an engine, and the odd thrill of seeing a giraffe or a herd of impala at eye level. Rules are strict and briefed before you set off. The walk ends with a late breakfast or brunch back at camp, and the middle of the day is yours to rest. In the late afternoon we head out on a game drive in an open vehicle, six guests at most, looking for lions, the park's buffalo herds and, with luck, African wild dogs, which Nyerere is known for. Dinner at camp.

   Included

   • Guided walking safari with an armed ranger, about 2 to 3 hours
   • Late-afternoon game drive
   • Walking safari fee

   Easier option: Skip the walk and take a morning game drive instead, or stay at camp.

   Free time: Midday free at camp

   Activity: The walk is about 4 to 6 km at a slow pace in heat. Wear closed shoes and khaki, beige or olive. Minimum age for walking is usually 16.

   

4. Day 4: The lakes of Nyerere

   Nyerere National Park: game drive to the Rufiji lakes

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Nyerere National Park
   Day 4 details

   A long morning on the drive circuits around the lakes the Rufiji feeds in the dry season, with borassus and doum palms along the shore and animals drawn in from the drying bush. We leave at first light, when lions and wild dogs are most active, and stop for a picnic breakfast by the water. Expect elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, impala, waterbuck and plenty of hippos; leopards are possible but shy. Your guide and the driver-guide decide the route on the day from what the camp's other vehicles reported the night before. We are back at camp for lunch, and the afternoon is free: sleep, read on your tent's veranda or watch the waterhole. If you would rather be out again, there is a second late-afternoon game drive, or a second boat trip if the camp can run it. Dinner at camp, and a fire under the stars before bed.

   Included

   • Morning game drive with a picnic breakfast
   • Late-afternoon game drive, by choice

   Optional experiences

   • Second boat safari, where the camp can run one

   Easier option: Stay at camp for the afternoon.

   More active option: Second late-afternoon game drive.

   Free time: Afternoon free at camp

   

5. Day 5: Fly west to Ruaha

   Nyerere National Park to Ruaha National Park by light aircraft

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ruaha National Park
   Day 5 details

   A last short drive at dawn, then breakfast and the transfer to the airstrip. The light aircraft flies west over the Udzungwa Mountains and the dry central plateau to Ruaha National Park, about 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on stops, landing around midday. Ruaha is one of Tanzania's largest parks and one of its least visited, so expect to see few other vehicles all week. Lunch at camp, a rest, then the first game drive in the late afternoon along the Great Ruaha River. In the dry season the river shrinks to pools and channels, and its banks draw elephants, giraffes, impala and the park's big lion prides. Ruaha sits where eastern and southern African species overlap, so watch for greater and lesser kudu, and with luck sable or roan antelope. We are back at camp after sunset for dinner.

   Included

   • Short dawn game drive in Nyerere
   • Light-aircraft flight from Nyerere to Ruaha
   • Late-afternoon game drive along the Great Ruaha River
   • Ruaha National Park and concession fees

   Easier option: Skip the dawn drive and sleep in before the flight.

   Free time: Early afternoon free at camp

   Activity: About 1.5 to 2.5 hours in the air, with a possible stop. Soft bags, about 15 kg each.

   

6. Day 6: Baobab country and the sand rivers

   Ruaha National Park: full-day game drive

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ruaha National Park
   Day 6 details

   Today is a long day out, timed for the light. We leave at first light into the baobab country away from the river, where the huge grey trunks stand over thorn scrub and elephants strip their bark in the dry months. Then we follow the sand rivers, which look empty but where elephants dig for water and lions rest in the shade of the banks. Lunch is a picnic under a tree with the vehicle as a hide, not a rushed sandwich. Through the hottest hours we park by a pool and watch who comes to drink, then work back towards camp through the late-afternoon light. With so few vehicles in Ruaha you can often stay with a pride or a herd as long as you like. If you chose the fly camp, you skip the drive back: in the late afternoon you leave the vehicle and walk out with a ranger to the fly camp, sleep under a mosquito-net tent and walk back to the main camp for breakfast.

   Included

   • Full-day game drive with a picnic lunch

   Optional experiences

   • One night at a simple fly camp with a walking guide and armed ranger, priced at booking and subject to the camp

   Easier option: Return to camp at midday and skip the afternoon drive.

   More active option: The fly camp night, walking out in the late afternoon.

   Activity: A long day in the vehicle with a rest stop at midday. The fly camp has a bucket shower and a basic toilet.

   

7. Day 7: A walk in Ruaha, a last sunset

   Ruaha National Park: walking safari and game drive

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ruaha National Park
   Day 7 details

   Fly-campers walk back for breakfast; everyone else starts with a second walking safari, this time in Ruaha, again with an armed ranger and a walking guide. The ground here is different from Nyerere: rocky ridges, dry riverbeds and baobabs, and the ranger reads what the night left in the sand. After breakfast the middle of the day is free at camp for a swim if there is a pool, a sleep, or just watching the river from your tent. In the late afternoon we go out on a final game drive and stop for a sundowner at a viewpoint over the river as the light turns red and the baboons and elephants settle for the night. Your guide will go through tomorrow's flight times and the bag storage pick-up in Dar es Salaam. The last dinner at camp is the farewell meal of the trip.

   Included

   • Guided walking safari in Ruaha with an armed ranger, about 2 to 3 hours
   • Late-afternoon game drive with a sundowner
   • Farewell dinner at camp

   Easier option: Morning game drive instead of the walk, or a slow morning at camp.

   Free time: Midday free at camp

   Activity: The walk is about 4 to 6 km at a slow pace on rocky ground. Closed shoes needed.

   

8. Day 8: Fly back to Dar es Salaam

   Ruaha National Park to Dar es Salaam by light aircraft

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   One last early look at the river from camp, or a short game drive if the flight time allows, then breakfast and the transfer to the airstrip. The light aircraft back to Dar es Salaam takes about 2 to 3 hours, usually with a stop on the way, and lands at Julius Nyerere International Airport in the early afternoon. Your guide collects any bags you left in storage and stays with you until you are at the right terminal for your flight home. Book international departures that leave after about 6 pm; we confirm the light-aircraft schedule for your date when you book, and because these small planes run circuits with stops, the arrival time can shift by an hour or two on the day. Most long-haul connections from Dar es Salaam go through hubs such as Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, Addis Ababa, Nairobi or Amsterdam. If you would like to add Zanzibar or a night on the coast, we can arrange it. The trip ends at the airport in Dar es Salaam.

   Included

   • Light-aircraft flight from Ruaha to Dar es Salaam
   • Help with stored bags and drop-off at your terminal

   Optional experiences

   • Extension to Zanzibar or the coast, arranged separately

   Activity: Book international flights leaving Dar es Salaam after about 6 pm. Light-aircraft times can shift on the day.

Wildlife and weather: Late June to October is the dry season in the south. Days are warm to hot, nights cool in June and July, and it gets hotter towards October. As water dries up, animals gather at the Rufiji, its lakes and the pools of the Great Ruaha River, and the bush thins so they are easier to see. Many camps close in the long rains, around April and May, so we do not run then.

• Dar es Salaam1 night
• Nyerere National Park3 nights
• Ruaha National Park3 nights