4.9 /5
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Based on over 1000 Verified Reviews.

Highlights

  • Remote conservation areas
  • Tanzania’s off-the-beaten track hotspots
  • Optional fly-camping in Selous
  • Big 5 game viewing & wild dogs
  • Boating & birding
  • Convenient fly-in transfers

Overview

Perfect for adventurous couples who want to splurge on luxury, romance and privacy on their Big 5 safari in Tanzania, this 9-day journey takes you to Ruaha and Nyerere National Parks – both are vast, undiscovered and untouched wilderness areas that are little-visited by safari-goers. Ruaha is the largest park in the country while Selous is also a huge area known for its large herds of elephants. Your lodges are intimate and cosy, offering luxury as well as excellent service to ensure you have the most personalised safari experience possible.

You will begin with an overnight stop in legendary Dar es Salaam – one of the gateway cities to the Tanzania safari circuit – which will give you time to relax and enjoy the local culture. From the city, fly to Ruaha, a Big 5 destination known for its unique landscape and beautiful, ancient baobab and sausage trees. Your second safari destination is the largest wildlife area in the world, the exquisite and vast Selous National Park.

Spending four days in each allows you to truly immerse yourself in the landscape and gives you ample time to utterly relax at every lodge. This is an ideal honeymoon or a safari option for those who enjoy getting off the beaten track and want superb wildlife experiences with few other travellers around.

Summary

  • Tour Duration: 9 Days

Accommodations Visited

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Southern Sun Dar es Salaam

1 Night
The perfect trip for those looking for an exclusive tented experience. Serengeti Safari Camp follows the migration’s movements, giving you your migration fix. Nduara Loliondo is one the most unique tented camps I have visited to date. Here the variety of activities – i.e. game drives, walks and night drives, means that you can be highly active if preferred.
Maureen Stover

Maureen Stover

Africa Safari Expert

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Day to day

Itinerary

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Southern Sun Dar es Salaam
Southern Sun Dar es Salaam-roominterior

Days 1-2: Welcome to Tanzania

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Detailed breakdown

Days 1-2: Welcome to Tanzania | 1 Night

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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

You will fly into Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Here you will spend a night relaxing after your international flight at the Southern Sun Hotel. The city of Dar es Salaam is located on the coast of the beautiful Indian Ocean and is said to have some of the top restaurants in East Africa. The best beaches are located just outside the city, and closer by you will find the Dar es Salaam’s famed botanical gardens and a range of enticing eateries.

Southern Sun Dar es Salaam
Southern Sun Dar es Salaam-roominterior

Days 2-5: Safari at Ruaha National Park | 3 Nights

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Ruaha, Tanzania

In the morning, you will be transferred back to the international airport for your flight by light aircraft to Msembe Airstrip, which is located just outside Ruaha National Park. After a road transfer, you will arrive at your lodge - Kigelia Camp - in time for lunch. After settling into your suite, it is time for the first afternoon game drive of your Tanzanian safari. Little-known Ruaha is home to the Big 5, and its unique location in the middle of Southern and East Africa means that you will experience a diverse blend of the two ecosystems, including iconic baobab trees and, around the lodge, sausage trees (Kigelia Africana) that periodically burst into brilliant scarlet flowers.

Ruaha is a little-visited region so you are able to totally disconnect from the outside world and immerse yourself in Africa’s vast and untouched wilderness. Kigelia is a comfortable and cosy tented camp where the primary focus is on providing incredible safari experiences. It is a small and intimate camp that has just six tented suites for guests, so you will receive extremely warm and personal service.

Kigelia Ruaha-Bush breakfast
Kigelia Ruaha-Leopard
Kigelia Ruaha-ruaha_kigelia_scott_ramsay-1761
Kigelia Ruaha-photographic safari_1

Days 5-9: See the beautiful Selous | 4 Nights

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Nyerere, Tanzania

Selous National Park is the world’s largest wildlife reserve and is Tanzania’s best-kept Big 5 secret. Departing from Ruaha, you will take a scheduled flight to Kiba Airstrip. On landing, a transfer waits to take you to Sand River Selous where you will spend the following four nights. The Selous offers a wide range of habitats to explore from grassland savannah to floodplains, and miombo woodland and is home to a multitude of plains game, large elephant herds, lion prides and African wild dogs.

At Sand River Selous, you have the unique opportunity of leaving your vehicle - perhaps to approach a placid elephant herd undetected or to simply discover what is around the next river bend on foot. In addition to game drives and guided nature walks, you can experience boat trips and picnics on one of the many scenic sand banks and excellent birding.

The lodge itself is built high above the Rufiji River, and open-sided suites and relaxation areas mean that you are never separated from the incredible Selous wilderness. Fly-camping is an optional extra and offers the opportunity to spend a night or more camping – just you, your guide, dinner cooked over the campfire, and a bed under the stars.

On your final day in Tanzania, you will be transferred to Kiba Airstrip for a scheduled flight to Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.

Sand Rivers Selous-Room
Sand Rivers Selous-Hot springs
Sand Rivers Selous-Fly camping
Sand Rivers Selous-chalets
Inclusions tick icon

Inclusions

  • Kigelia Ruaha: shared activities including 4x4 game drives and walking
  • Road transfers between camps and airstrips
  • Sand Rivers Selous: shared activities including 4x4 game drives, boating, fishing and walking
  • Schedule Flight from Dar to Ruaha/Msembe ; From Ruaha/Msembe to Selous/Kiba ; From Selous/Kiba to Dar
  • Selected park fees
Exclusions tick icon

Exclusions

  • International flights
  • Airport taxes
  • All meals and drinks not specified
  • Tips and gratuities
  • Items of a personal nature

Rates

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Dates Price
2023-06-01 — 2023-10-31 $9,495
2023-11-01 — 2023-11-30 $7,830
2023-12-01 — 2023-12-23 $9,445
Our rates are per person sharing unless we note differently. Please treat all pricing as a guide only:
  • All rates are subject to availability and may change without notice.
  • Single supplements may apply.
  • Request a quote or speak to one of our African Safari Experts for the best, most current rates available.