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Places of Africa Safaris

Hippos crowded into a pool
Southern Circuit · Eleven Days

Eleven days in the south

Nyerere on the Rufiji and Ruaha on the plateau — the two largest parks in Tanzania, joined by a ninety-minute flight, with boat, walking and night drives the northern circuit cannot offer.
11
Days
10
Nights
2
Parks
4
Flights
Overview
Day by day
Rates
Included
Add-ons
Parks
Best time
Flights
Other costs
Why us
Questions
Your trip
Related
I · Overview

The route, and why this shape

Two parks, four flights, no road transfers. Ten nights in the empty south.
The south of Tanzania has two very large parks and almost no visitors, and the reason is not quality. It is that Nyerere and Ruaha are 350 kilometres apart with mountains between them, and by road each is a full day from Dar es Salaam. Driven, this circuit costs you three days in a vehicle looking at farmland. Flown, it costs you four short flights and nothing else.
So this itinerary flies everything. A night in Dar to protect the first departure, four nights on the Rufiji in Nyerere for the boat and the walking and a night drive, a scheduled hop of about ninety minutes west to Ruaha, and four nights there split between two camps because one camp cannot cover a park that size. Then Dar again, and home or Zanzibar.
What you give up is the Serengeti, the crater and the migration; if those are the trip, this is not it. What you get is river safari by boat, walking with a ranger, two night drives, lion prides of twenty, kudu and sable alongside the animals you expected, and whole mornings without seeing another vehicle. June to October only; the rest of the year the south does not work, and we say so below.
Length
11 days / 10 nights
Country
Tanzania
Start / end
Dar es Salaam → Dar es Salaam
Tour type
Private fly-in safari
Group size
Private — 1 to 6 guests per vehicle
Meal plan
Full board
Best months
June – October
Activity level
Moderate — optional walks of 2–3 hours
Vehicle
Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 with a pop-up roof, a window seat for every guest, charging points and a cool box
II · The days

Day by day, all eleven

Every day opens. Four nights on the Rufiji, then four across two camps in Ruaha. See every lodge and camp we use
Day
01
Two Maasai men beside a light aircraft on a bush airstrip
Arrival

Dar es Salaam, and nothing else

06°52′S 39°12′E
Dinner
Two Maasai men beside a light aircraft on a bush airstrip
Dar es Salaam, and nothing else
06°52′S 39°12′E
You land at Julius Nyerere International on the southern edge of Dar es Salaam and are met at the door. The city hotel is fifteen kilometres away, which in Dar traffic is anything from half an hour to an hour, and that is the only driving you do on this trip.
This night is here because the light-aircraft circuit to the southern parks leaves in the morning and does not wait for a delayed international flight. Arriving the evening before is the difference between a safari that starts on day 2 and one that starts on day 3 with a missed seat to explain.
Repack tonight into a soft bag. The aircraft you board tomorrow carries luggage in a pod under the wing, the weight limit is set by the airline rather than by us, and hard cases are refused at the check-in desk, not politely. The figure is 15 kilograms on most southern-circuit carriers; we confirm yours with the ticket.
Meals
Dinner
Travel
Julius Nyerere International (DAR) · city hotel 15 km, 30–60 min
Highlight
One night at sea level before the bush
Meet at Julius Nyerere International
Soft bags only
No game drive today
Where you sleep
Hotel Blue Sapphire: Hotel exterior
COMFORT

Hotel Blue Sapphire

★★★★☆
Dar es Salaam, near the airport or the Msasani peninsula
A clean, quiet room within reach of the domestic terminal for an early departure. Nothing more is needed for one night.
Outside view of Sea Cliff Hotel with ocean views
LUXURY

Sea Cliff Hotel

★★★★★
Dar es Salaam, on the Msasani peninsula
Sea-facing rooms on the peninsula north of the centre, and a proper dinner after the long-haul flight.
Hippos crowded into a pool
Fly to the Rufiji, and out on the water
07°45′S 38°15′E
The flight south-west from Dar takes about forty-five minutes and drops you at an airstrip in the northern sector of Nyerere National Park, the part of the old Selous Game Reserve that was gazetted as a national park in 2019. By road the same journey is 230 kilometres and most of a day; the aircraft buys you that day back and you spend it in the park.
Camp is on or near the Rufiji, the largest river in Tanzania, and the reason this park is on the itinerary at all. It runs through a network of oxbow lakes and channels lined with borassus palm, and in the dry season it is the only water for a long way south.
The first activity is by boat, in the late afternoon. Hippo in pods of thirty and forty, crocodile on every sandbank, and elephant coming down through the palms to drink at the hour the light goes orange. You see the bank from the water, which is a view a vehicle cannot give you anywhere in the north.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Light aircraft DAR → Nyerere, about 45 minutes · morning departure
Highlight
First afternoon on the river by boat
45-minute flight
Rufiji River by boat
Borassus palm country
Where you sleep
Selous Impala Tented Camp: Aerial view of the camp
COMFORT

Selous Impala Tented Camp

★★★★☆
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji or a lake
Tented, en-suite, full board, with a boat at the camp jetty so that river outings do not begin with a drive.
Roho ya Selous: Guest tent interior with canopy bed, wooden furnishings and neutral decor
LUXURY

Roho ya Selous

★★★★★
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji
Larger tents raised on decks over the water, and a private vehicle and guide for the four days.
Hippos in the river
On foot in the morning, by vehicle after
07°48′S 38°10′E
Walking is permitted in Nyerere with an armed park ranger, and the northern sector is the right ground for it: flat, open woodland between the lakes, with sight lines. You leave at first light and walk for two to three hours, slowly, and you will not cover more than six or seven kilometres.
What a walk gives you is everything the vehicle hides. Tracks in the sand and how old they are, the smell of a buffalo herd before you see it, dung beetles, the dry-season bird traffic at a shrinking pool. Large animals are seen at a distance and left there; that is the point of the ranger and the rule of the walk. The minimum age is sixteen, and it is not negotiable.
After lunch and the hot hours in camp, an afternoon game drive around the lake circuit. Nyerere holds one of the largest remaining wild dog populations in Africa, and the lakes are where they are most often found. They are not a promise on any given day. Lion, giraffe and large numbers of impala and waterbuck are.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Full day in the park · walk of 2–3 hours
Highlight
A walking safari with an armed ranger
Walking safari, 16+
Wild dog country
Lake circuit drive
Where you sleep
Selous Impala Tented Camp: Guest tents
COMFORT

Selous Impala Tented Camp

★★★★☆
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji or a lake
Second night. Staying put means the walk starts at the tent flap rather than after a drive to a trailhead.
Roho ya Selous: Guest deck: two wooden chairs and a small table facing a green riverside view through trees
LUXURY

Roho ya Selous

★★★★★
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji
Second night, same tent. Breakfast is taken after the walk, not before it.
A safari tent at night
The lakes by day, the park after dark
07°50′S 38°05′E
A full day on the vehicle, working the chain of lakes — Tagalala, Manze, Nzerakera and the channels between them. In the dry season these are where the game concentrates and where the predators wait for it, and a morning spent moving slowly between them is the best game viewing in the northern sector.
Nyerere is one of the parks licensed for night drives; the Serengeti and the crater are not, which is one reason to come south. After dinner you go out for around two hours with a filtered spotlight. Genet, civet, bushbaby, porcupine and the eyes of things in the grass you cannot name until the guide does. Leopard is possible and not promised.
The night drive permit is a park fee on top of the entry fee and is <span class=”it-todo”>included in the rate or charged separately — to confirm</span>. The minimum age is normally sixteen, on insurance grounds rather than park rules, and the drive is quietly cold; bring a fleece.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Full day in the park · night drive of about 2 hours
Highlight
A night drive, permitted here and not in the north
Lake circuit
Night drive
Predator concentration
Where you sleep
Selous Impala Tented Camp: Refurbished tents 1-7
COMFORT

Selous Impala Tented Camp

★★★★☆
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji or a lake
Third night. The camp’s own vehicle knows the lake tracks in the dark, which matters more than it sounds.
Roho ya Selous: Open lounge area with seating facing the river and green landscape
LUXURY

Roho ya Selous

★★★★★
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji
Third night. A late dinner is held for guests on the night drive.
Hippos crowded into a pool
A full day on the Rufiji
07°43′S 38°20′E
The last full day in Nyerere is given to the river, because the boat is what this park does that Ruaha does not. A long morning outing downstream through the channels and into the open Rufiji, with breakfast taken on a sandbank if the crocodiles are somewhere else.
The birdlife on the water is the densest of the trip. African skimmers on the sand, fish eagles on every second dead tree, kingfishers of five species, carmine bee-eaters in their colonies in the cut banks from September. Bring binoculars even if you are not a birder; you will be one by lunch.
Upstream the river narrows into Stiegler’s Gorge, where the Julius Nyerere hydropower dam now stands. It is worth saying plainly: the dam has changed the river above the gorge, and the northern sector you are in sits below it. The boat does not go into the gorge. A late-afternoon drive or a second short boat trip closes the day, whichever the guide judges better for the light.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Full day on the river and in the park
Highlight
The river from source of the light to end of it
Long boat safari
Skimmers and bee-eaters
Stiegler’s Gorge
Where you sleep
Selous Impala Tented Camp: Double/twin tent
COMFORT

Selous Impala Tented Camp

★★★★☆
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji or a lake
Fourth and last night here. Bags are packed before the morning outing; the airstrip is close.
Roho ya Selous: Open-air dining area under a canopy, candle-lit at dusk
LUXURY

Roho ya Selous

★★★★★
Nyerere, northern sector, on the Rufiji
Fourth night. A last sundowner on the deck, and an early breakfast tomorrow.
Elephants crossing the Great Ruaha River
Over the Udzungwa to Ruaha
07°41′S 34°55′E
The hop west is the reason this itinerary exists. Nyerere and Ruaha are about 350 kilometres apart with the Udzungwa Mountains and a long day of bad road in between; the scheduled light-aircraft circuit does it in around an hour and a half, sometimes with a stop at another strip to pick up or drop other guests. It is a shared flight, not a charter, and the timing is the airline’s.
Ruaha is a different country. You climb from the Rufiji lowlands to a plateau at 750 to 1,000 metres, the palms give way to baobab and granite kopjes, and the air is drier. At around 20,000 square kilometres it is the largest national park in Tanzania and it sees a fraction of the visitors the Serengeti does.
The first camp is in the central part of the park, in reach of the Great Ruaha River and the sand rivers that feed it. The afternoon drive from the airstrip to camp is the introduction: elephant, giraffe, and the first greater kudu standing under a baobab, which is a sight the north cannot show you.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Light aircraft Nyerere → Ruaha, about 1½ hours on the scheduled circuit · late-morning departure
Highlight
From river country to the granite and baobab of Ruaha
1½-hour scheduled flight
Largest park in Tanzania
Baobab and kopje
Where you sleep
Riverside bandas at Ruaha River Lodge
COMFORT

Ruaha River Lodge

★★★★☆
Central Ruaha, near the Great Ruaha River
Tented, en-suite, full board, on a sand river where elephant dig for water in front of the tents.
Kigelia Ruaha, Tanzania
LUXURY

Kigelia Ruaha

★★★★★
Central Ruaha, on a sand river
Stone-and-thatch bandas or large tents with a view over the riverbed, and a private guide and vehicle.
An elephant beside a baobab in Tarangire
The Great Ruaha, and the lions that live on it
07°35′S 34°58′E
A full day on the river circuit, which in the dry months is where everything in central Ruaha ends up. The Great Ruaha drops to a chain of pools between July and October, and buffalo herds of several hundred come to them with lion following. Ruaha holds one of the largest lion populations of any park in Africa, and the prides here are big — fifteen and twenty animals is normal.
The other reason to spend a whole day here is the overlap. Ruaha is where the southern miombo woodland meets the East African acacia savannah, so greater and lesser kudu, sable and roan share ground with the impala and zebra you already know. Nowhere else on a Tanzanian route puts both lists in one drive.
Leopard is resident along the river and seen often enough to be worth looking for and not often enough to be promised. Cheetah are on the open ground to the south. Elephant are everywhere, in numbers that rival Tarangire, and noticeably more wary of vehicles; give them room.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Full day in the park
Highlight
Large prides, and buffalo herds in the hundreds
Big lion prides
Kudu, sable, roan
River-pool concentration
Where you sleep
Ruaha River Lodge: The lodge
COMFORT

Ruaha River Lodge

★★★★☆
Central Ruaha, near the Great Ruaha River
Second night. A full day with no packing, and a dawn start from inside the park.
Kigelia Ruaha, Tanzania
LUXURY

Kigelia Ruaha

★★★★★
Central Ruaha, on a sand river
Second night. Breakfast can be taken out in the field so the vehicle does not come back before the cats lie down.
Elephants crossing the Great Ruaha River
South to the second camp
07°57′S 34°42′E
Ruaha is big enough that one camp cannot cover it, which is why the four nights are split. Today is a transfer, but a transfer inside the park is a game drive with luggage, and the guide takes the long way. The road south-west leaves the river circuit for open miombo and the sand rivers of the park’s southern part.
This is the emptier ground. Vehicle numbers in central Ruaha are low by northern standards; down here on a dry-season morning you may see none. The trade is that game is more spread out and the sightings come from reading a sand river rather than following a radio.
The second camp sits on or near a sand river in the south or west of the park, and the change of ground is deliberate: cheetah on the open plains, wild dog denning in the woodland between June and August, and a walking option in the morning that the central circuit is too busy for.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Game drive between camps, roughly 60–80 km · about 3–4 hours
Highlight
A different corner of a very large park
Transfer inside the park
Miombo and sand rivers
Fewer vehicles
Where you sleep
Mdonya Old River Camp: Guest tent
COMFORT

Mdonya Old River Camp

★★★★☆
Southern or western Ruaha, on a sand river
A smaller camp with a walking guide on staff and the tents set back from the riverbed.
Usangu Expedition Camp: Guest tent on a raised platform among dry grass and scattered trees
LUXURY

Usangu Expedition Camp

★★★★★
Southern or western Ruaha, on a sand river
The most remote camp on the route, with the trip’s best chance of a day without another vehicle.
An elephant beside a baobab in Tarangire
On foot at dawn, and out after dark
07°55′S 34°45′E
A morning walk with an armed ranger, two to three hours along a sand river before the heat. Ruaha walking is different from the Rufiji: drier, more broken ground, and the animals are further off and warier. You will track rather than watch. Minimum age sixteen again.
The middle of the day is hot here in the dry months — 30 °C and more by noon — and the camp is the right place to be. The afternoon drive starts late, at four, and runs until the gate rules close it at dusk.
Then a night drive, permitted in Ruaha as in Nyerere, for the nocturnal animals the day hides: aardwolf, honey badger, serval on the open ground, and the lion prides on the move, which is when they actually hunt. The permit fee is <span class=”it-todo”>to confirm</span> and the drive is limited to around two hours by park rules.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Full day in the park · morning walk · evening night drive
Highlight
Walking, then the second night drive of the trip
Walking safari, 16+
Night drive
Cheetah and wild dog ground
Where you sleep
Mdonya Old River Camp: Guest tent
COMFORT

Mdonya Old River Camp

★★★★☆
Southern or western Ruaha, on a sand river
Second night at the southern camp. A quiet afternoon is not wasted here.
Usangu Expedition Camp: Guest bedroom interior: bed facing wide views of Ruaha through mesh walls
LUXURY

Usangu Expedition Camp

★★★★★
Southern or western Ruaha, on a sand river
Second night. Dinner is held for the night-drive vehicle.
Two Maasai men beside a light aircraft on a bush airstrip
Last drive, then the flight to Dar
06°52′S 39°12′E
A last drive in the cool of the morning on the way to the airstrip. The flight east to Dar takes around two hours, sometimes via another strip, and puts you on the coast by early afternoon; the change from 750 metres and dry heat to sea level and humidity is immediate.
The night in Dar is here for the same reason the first one was. Scheduled bush flights are late often enough that connecting them to an international departure the same evening is a gamble we will not take with your ticket. If your flight home leaves after midnight it can sometimes work; ask and we will say honestly.
The afternoon is free. The Msasani peninsula has the fish market and the craft market at Mwenge if you want them; a shower and a chair facing the Indian Ocean is the more common choice.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Light aircraft Ruaha → DAR, about 2 hours · early-afternoon departure
Highlight
Morning game drive to the airstrip, city by afternoon
2-hour flight to DAR
Buffer night in Dar
Free afternoon
Where you sleep
Hotel Blue Sapphire: Guest room
COMFORT

Hotel Blue Sapphire

★★★★☆
Dar es Salaam, near the airport or the Msasani peninsula
The same kind of room as night one, chosen for the departure time of your flight home.
Sea Cliff Hotel: Deluxe Sea View room
LUXURY

Sea Cliff Hotel

★★★★★
Dar es Salaam, on the Msasani peninsula
Sea-facing, with a pool for the afternoon and a late checkout where the departure time needs it.
Dhows moored off a white-sand beach on Zanzibar
Dar es Salaam, and home
06°52′S 39°12′E
Breakfast, and the transfer to Julius Nyerere International in time for your flight. Allow more time than the distance suggests; Dar traffic is the least predictable thing on this itinerary.
If you are going on to Zanzibar, the flight from Dar takes twenty minutes and leaves several times a day, and the ferry takes two hours. Three or four nights on the east coast after ten nights in the bush is the most common ending, and the one we would suggest.
The trip ends where it started. Eleven days, two parks, four flights and no long road transfers — which is the shape we think the south deserves.
Meals
Breakfast
Travel
Hotel to Julius Nyerere International · 30–60 min
Highlight
Transfer to the airport, or on to Zanzibar
Airport transfer
Onward to Zanzibar possible
Trip ends
Where you sleep
Departure day — no overnight
III · Rates

What it costs, by group size

A safari gets cheaper per person as the vehicle fills. Choose a tier to see the table.
Comfort rates by group size, per person and group total
Group sizeRoomsPer personGroup total
1 guest1 room$10,890$10,890
2 guests1 room$8,730$17,460
3 guests2 rooms$9,370$28,110
4 guests2 rooms$8,670$34,680
5 guests3 rooms$9,070$45,350
6+ guests3 rooms$8,650$51,900
Single supplement
$2,050
Added when a guest does not share a room
Child, 3 – 11 years
30% off
Sharing with two adults; walks and night drives are 16+
Peak season uplift
Included in the rates above
July – October
All figures in US dollars, per person sharing unless stated. Valid for travel until 30 June 2027. Park fees, guiding, vehicle, accommodation and full board are included — see what is and is not covered below.
IV · Included

What is in the price, and what is not

Stated in full, both ways.

What is included

  • Scheduled light-aircraft flights Dar → Nyerere → Ruaha → Dar
  • All game drives in a 4×4 with a roof hatch — private vehicle on the Luxury tier, shared camp vehicle on Comfort
  • Boat safaris on the Rufiji as described
  • Walking safaris with an armed park ranger, age 16+
  • All accommodation as listed, full board
  • All national park entry and concession fees
  • Airport and hotel transfers in Dar es Salaam
  • Drinking water in the vehicle throughout
  • Night drive permits, where the camps run them
  • A licensed, English-speaking professional guide, trained in wilderness first aid
  • Round-the-clock support from our Arusha office, and a first-aid kit in every vehicle

What is not

  • International flights to and from Tanzania
  • Tanzania visa — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States passports
  • Travel insurance, which we ask every guest to hold
  • Drinks at the camps, beyond what is listed
  • Tips for guides, rangers, boat crew and camp staff
  • Excess baggage on light aircraft beyond the airline's soft-bag limit
  • Personal spending and souvenirs
  • Anything listed under optional extras below
V · Add-ons

Worth adding, if you have the days

Priced separately and arranged on request.
Dhows moored off a white-sand beach on Zanzibar
After day 11 · 3–5 nights

Zanzibar, afterwards

Twenty minutes by air from Dar, or two hours by ferry. After ten nights in the bush, three or four on the east coast or in Stone Town is the ending most guests choose, and the one that makes the flights back through Dar worth it.
From USD 1,340 per person, 3 nights
A giraffe browsing an acacia tree on the plains
Days 8–9 · one night

Fly-camping in Ruaha

A night out under a mosquito net on a sand river with a ranger and a fire, walked to from the second camp. Offered only by some camps and only in the dry months; it replaces one of the tented nights rather than adding to them.
USD 230 per person
A safari tent at night
Day 3 or 5

A second night drive in Nyerere

The itinerary includes one night drive in each park. A second in Nyerere, on the lake circuit after the walking day, is the cheapest way to improve the odds of leopard and wild dog after dark.
USD 80 per person
Two Maasai men beside a light aircraft on a bush airstrip
Days 2, 6 and 10

Private charter instead of the scheduled circuit

The scheduled flights stop at other strips and run to the airline’s clock. A private charter goes when you do and straight there, which buys an extra game drive on each transfer day. Expensive, and worth it for a group of four or more.
USD 1,880 per person, for 2 guests
VI · The ground

Where this itinerary takes you

The two largest national parks in Tanzania, and the city that connects them.
Hippos crowded into a pool

Nyerere National Park

Around 30,000 square kilometres, gazetted in 2019 from the northern part of the Selous Game Reserve, and the largest national park in Tanzania. The Rufiji River and its lakes hold one of the biggest hippo and crocodile populations in Africa, a large wild dog population, and the only boat safaris on this route.
Elephants crossing the Great Ruaha River

Ruaha National Park

Around 20,000 square kilometres of plateau at 750 to 1,900 metres, where miombo woodland meets acacia savannah. One of the largest lion populations in Africa, big buffalo and elephant herds on the Great Ruaha River in the dry season, and greater kudu, sable and roan that the north does not have.
Two Maasai men beside a light aircraft on a bush airstrip

Dar es Salaam

Tanzania’s largest city and the port for the southern circuit. Every bush flight in the south leaves from here in the morning, which is why the itinerary opens and closes with a night at sea level rather than trusting a same-day connection.
The question everyone asks

Why fly, and what the flights cost you

4
Light-aircraft legs, all scheduled, all in daylight
The question guests ask about the south is not whether the parks are good — it is whether the flights are worth it. By road Dar to the Rufiji is 230 kilometres and five to six hours, and Nyerere to Ruaha is a long day on a road that is bad in places. Driven, this itinerary would need three more days and you would spend them looking at cashew farms. The flights are what make ten nights in two parks possible at all.
What the flights cost you is control. They are scheduled, shared, and they stop at other strips; the airline sets the time and the baggage limit, not us. That is why there is a night in Dar at each end, why bags must be soft and light, and why we will not connect a bush flight to an international departure on the same evening. Take those three things as given and the south is the easiest safari in Tanzania to travel.
VII · Season

The best time to travel

June to October. The months the south closes are set out honestly.
June to October is the season for this route, and we mean that more strictly than in the north. The Great Ruaha drops to pools, the Rufiji lakes shrink, and everything that needs water is on it. Grass is short, the sand rivers are walkable, and the wild dogs are denning in the woodland from June to August, which is the best chance of seeing them.
September and October are the driest and hottest, with days in Ruaha above 35 °C. They are also the best game months of the year there. If heat is a problem for anyone in your group, June and July are cooler and nearly as good.
November brings the first rains to the south and a green flush that photographs well, with rates falling. It is possible, and Nyerere in particular is good for birds. Game is more spread out and the afternoon storms are real.
December to May is the wet season, and from March to May most of the camps in both parks close. The Rufiji floods, the sand rivers run, tracks close and the airstrips can go with them. We do not sell this itinerary for those months. If they are the only weeks you have, we would rather build you the north.
VIII · Flights

Getting there and back

Fly into Dar es Salaam, not Kilimanjaro. Arrive the evening before the first bush flight.
Fly into Julius Nyerere International (DAR), not Kilimanjaro. The southern light-aircraft circuit is based in Dar and the whole itinerary is built around its morning departures. Arriving at Kilimanjaro means a domestic flight south and a lost day.
Arrive the evening before day 2 at the latest; day 1 is that evening. Bags on the bush flights must be soft and within the airline’s limit, usually 15 kilograms including hand luggage. We can store a hard case at the Dar hotel for the ten days.
Coming home, you are in Dar by early afternoon on day 10 and fly out on day 11. If you are going on to Zanzibar the flight takes twenty minutes and can leave on day 10 afternoon or day 11 morning; we will advise which is safer for your bush-flight arrival.
Tanzania requires a visa for most passports — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States citizens, valid up to 90 days. Apply online in advance; the queue at Dar after an evening arrival is long.
IX · Other costs

What else you will spend

Visas, insurance, tips and drinks — set out so there is no surprise on the ground.
Tanzania issues a tourist visa online (eVisa) or on arrival at Dar es Salaam. Applying in advance is faster and avoids the queue at immigration, which after an evening arrival can be long.
A yellow fever certificate is required only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is endemic. Coming directly from Europe or North America, it is not.
  • USD 50 for most nationalities
  • USD 100 for United States citizens, multiple entry
  • Valid up to 90 days
  • Passport must have six months' validity and two blank pages
We ask every guest to travel insured. Medical cover and evacuation are the parts that matter here — both parks are a flight from the nearest hospital, and the south has fewer airstrips and fewer daily flights than the north.
Check that your policy covers walking safaris and light-aircraft travel. Most do; a few exclude one or the other.
Tipping is customary in Tanzania and it is genuinely optional. The figures below are what guests commonly give, not what is expected of you. On this route there are more people to thank: the guide, the walking ranger, the boat crew and the camp staff.
Camp staff tips go into a shared box at each camp so that the kitchen and housekeeping are included, not only the people you see. Rangers are tipped separately and modestly.
  • Guide: USD 20 – 30 per day, per group
  • Ranger and boat crew: USD 10 – 20 per day, per group
  • Camp staff, shared box: USD 10 – 15 per guest per day
Drinking water in the vehicle is included throughout. Some southern camps are fully inclusive of drinks and some are not; we tell you which applies to yours when the camps are confirmed.
  • Soft drinks: USD 3 – 5
  • Local beer: USD 4 – 6
  • Wine and spirits: USD 7 – 20
Laundry at the camps, curios in Dar, and anything you forgot to pack. Cash in small US dollar notes is more useful than a card once you leave Dar — the southern camps are remote, connections are patchy, and cards fail more often than they work.
Notes dated before 2009 are refused across Tanzania. Bring newer ones.
X · Why us

Why book this with us

01

We send guides here on purpose

The south is the circuit our own guides ask to be posted to, because the parks are empty and the guiding is real. We build this route because we like it, not because it is easy to sell.
02

Flown, not driven

Every transfer on this itinerary is by air. We could quote a cheaper driven version and we choose not to, because three days of road for two parks is a bad trade and you would tell us so afterwards.
03

Two camps in Ruaha, not one

Ruaha is four times the size of the Masai Mara. A single camp shows you one circuit. Moving once, inside the park, doubles what you see for the cost of a morning’s packing.
04

We will tell you not to come in April

From March to May the south closes. We would rather move your dates or build you a northern route than take a booking for a trip we know will disappoint.
XI · Questions

Frequently asked

What guests ask before booking the southern circuit.
The rate depends on your group size and which accommodation tier you choose, and it moves with the season. Four light-aircraft legs are included, which is why a southern fly-in costs more per day than a driven northern circuit of the same length. Our rates for this itinerary are set out in the table above — ask us and we will quote for your exact dates.
The northern part of the old Selous Game Reserve became Nyerere National Park in 2019; the southern part remains a game reserve. The camps, the Rufiji, the lakes and the boat safaris are all in the national park. Older maps and articles still say Selous and mean the same place. See our Nyerere page.
Because it would cost three days. Dar to the Rufiji is five to six hours by road; Nyerere to Ruaha is a full day on a road that is bad in places; Ruaha back to Dar is another. Flying keeps ten nights in the parks instead of seven. If budget forces a driven version we will build it, and we will be honest about what it loses.
December and early January can work in Nyerere with some limits. March to May cannot: most camps in both parks close, the Rufiji floods and airstrips can shut. We do not sell this route for those months. June to October is the season.
Partly. Game drives and boat trips are fine for children the camps accept, and many southern camps set a minimum age of six or twelve. Walking safaris and night drives are sixteen and over, so younger children sit those out with a parent. Tell us the ages and we will say plainly whether it works. Child rates are 30% below the adult rate for children sharing with two adults.
Nyerere and Ruaha are two of the best places in Africa to try, and June to August, when the packs are denning, is the best window. It is still not a promise. Dogs range widely and a pack can be off the circuit for a week. What is reliable in both parks is lion, elephant, buffalo, hippo and giraffe.
Soft bags only, and a weight limit set by the airline — usually 15 kilograms per person including hand luggage, sometimes less. Hard cases are refused. We store anything you do not need at the Dar hotel and it is waiting on day 10. Exact limits for your flights are 15 kg per person in soft bags, confirmed with the ticket.
Ruaha in September and October reaches 35 °C and above by early afternoon; Nyerere is lower and more humid. The days are built around it — out early, in camp through the middle, out again late — and the night drives are cool. June and July are noticeably milder.
Yes, and from Dar it is the easiest extension in Tanzania: twenty minutes by air or two hours by ferry. Three to five nights on the east coast or in Stone Town after day 11 is the usual shape. Rates are from USD 1,340 per person for three nights. See Zanzibar and bush and beach.
XII · Your trip

Request your personalised safari proposal

Tell us how you like to travel and we will put together a personalised proposal for this route — dates, camps and a firm price per person. No payment is required at this stage.

WhatsApp+255 785 558 736Emailinfo@placesofafricasafaris.comReply timeWithin one working day

No payment is required at this stage. We reply by email and WhatsApp within one working day.

XIII · Related

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Eleven days in the south

11
Days
10
Nights
2
Parks
4
Flights
Starts
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Ends
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Departures
Daily — a private safari on the dates you choose
Availability
Open all year, subject to lodge space
From
from$8,650/pp
Per person, sharing
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Private fly-in safari · no booking fee · we reply within one working day
from $8,650 / person
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