Southern Tanzania Safari: Discover the Hidden Gems of Nyerere and Ruaha National Parks

As with many tourist destinations, Tanzania has a few honeypot destinations that are more famous than Tanzania itself. The Serengeti, Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro, everybody knows and for good reason. There is a lot more to Tanzania than that, however. Southern Tanzania is much less well known and visited than the north, easily qualifying as an ‘edge of the map’ or ‘off the beaten track’ safari destination. 

The two giants of the southern circuit, (and they are unfathomably vast at 30,000 and 20,000+ km² respectively) Nyerere National Park and Ruaha National Park make up the southern Tanzania safari circuit. Two very different places, they make a wonderfully contrasting combination when visited together. This is logistically straightforward starting from Dar es Salaam. One of our favourite routes is also to start a safari in the north, the Serengeti for example, and then fly down to Ruaha. Much less often Nyerere and Ruaha can be visited on your way out to western Tanzania; Katavi and Mahale Mountains National Parks. These are sometimes lumped together with the south, but it’s the west and we’ll address those in a separate blog post.

Nyerere National Park 

Formerly known, in part, as the Selous Game Reserve, Nyerere is a green and humid environment thanks to its proximity to the Indian Ocean and the myriad of lakes and rivers that make up the landscape. Most safari camps are based around and along these, the most notable of which is the Rufiji River. In addition to traditional game drives, Nyerere provides the opportunity for boat safaris, a unique perspective on much-overlooked wildlife such as a lot, of hippos, crocodiles, blue monkeys, malachite kingfishers, giant kingfishers and white-fronted bee-eaters to name but a few. Some of the safari camps such as Kuro or Ikuka Safari Camp effectively operate in private areas such are the distances between them. Nyerere is an excellent place to see wild dogs, go fly-camping and catch a tiger fish. On our last evening there in July, as we enjoyed a gin and tonic by the river, a herd of elephants slowly walked out across the sand bank behind us, silhouetted against the sun. 

Ruaha National Park 

Ruaha is a dry, rocky and rugged environment, with a sand and yellow colour palette. The landscape is covered by mighty baobab trees, sometimes forming entire woodlands. A tree that has a unique and critical relationship with one of the largest populations of elephants in East Africa. It’s also home to roughly 10% of Africa’s lions. However this year, in the main game drive areas along the Ruaha and Mwagusi rivers, the traditional lion pride have broken up, allowing more sightings of leopards, wild dogs and cheetahs. As the dry season rolls on, you can see great herds of buffalo numbering in the thousands. Alongside majestic kudu (greater and lesser), bat-eared foxes and martial eagles. We have a long association with Ruaha and many of our privately guided safaris visit here. Many of the community and conservation projects we support are involved in Ruaha, such as the Mkuyu Guide School.

For a time it was thought that southern Tanzania was very expensive. This is a misnomer based on the extra flying time to get there. Many of the safari camps are intimate, authentic and luxurious, at very reasonable prices. Especially when you factor in something everyone is looking for these days, avoiding the crowds. This is especially rewarding whether you are an experienced safari goer or it’s your first and only safari with the family. On a southern Tanzania safari you will not share sightings with a bunch of other vehicles, wait at busy airstrips or see other cars whizzing about all over the place. You are in an untrammelled wilderness, with spectacular wildlife and a handful of fantastic safari camps waiting to host you on a safari of a lifetime. 

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