5
days Ruaha National Park/ Mikumi National Park
Trip Summary:
The supper
safari takes you to explore the whole 4 of the Tanzania southern circuit
wildlife protected areas for game viewing, walking and boat excursion
for 14 nights. It gives you enough time at each site where you will
spend 3 nights in Ruaha national park, 3 nights in Mikumi National
park exploring the areas where you will see the rare SABLE and
ROAN antelope as well as small and large mammals including variety of
reptiles and bird species. Accommodation can be in lodge, luxury Tented
camp or budget camping sites as per your requirements booked on full
board arrangements FB.
You will enjoy and
experience nature, wildlife, habit and habitat of the fauna and flora in
the natural areas,
the
formation of the Rift Valley as a result of the tag-tonic plates
movements,
also peoples and culture.
Availability 90% Book Now
Minimum Rate Per Adult:
US$
Departing From:
Dar es Salaam
Duration:
5 Days / 4 Nights
Departure Time:
0830
Hrs (possible to leave earlier than)
Departures:
Daily
Minimum Persons Required:
2
Best Time:
All round the year
4 nights/5 days Ruaha National Park/
Mikumi National Park Day 1 Ruaha inclusive:
Ruaha National Park
After breakfast, drive to Iringa town. Stop at Kitonga Inn Hotel for
lunch, and then proceed driving to Iringa town for dinner and overnight
at Iringa Hotel or similar
Day 2 Ruaha
After breakfast drive to Ruaha National Park, which is famous for its
rare sable antelope, roan antelope, and big herds of elephants. The park
represents a transition zone where eastern and southern African flora
and fauna overlap. Although Ruaha is one of the largest parks in Africa,
it is comparatively unknown and, due to its remoteness, remains
unspoiled. Lunch at the lodge followed by an afternoon game drive. Ruaha
River Lodge is the only lodge in the reserve and is built on a rocky
ridge with spectacular views of the Great Ruaha River. Dinner and
overnight at Ruaha River Lodge
Day 3 Ruaha
Enjoy a full day game drive in the park. Nearly 500 bird species have
been sighted within the park. The river area features large numbers of
hippo and crocodile and attracts lion, leopard, hunting dog, waterbuck,
impala, giraffe, warthog and eland. Grants gazelle, ostrich and cheetah
may be seen on the plains. Meals and overnight at Ruaha River Lodge
Day 4 Mikumi
After breakfast drive to Kitonga Inn Lodge for lunch and proceed to
Mikumi National Park for dinner and overnight at Vuma Hill Tented Lodge
or similar
Day 5 Mikumi - Dar es salaam
After breakfast, enjoy another game drive in Mikumi National Park, which
is well known for its population of elephants, giraffes, buffaloes,
zebras, elands, greater Kudu, wildebeest, roan and sable antelope.
Predators include tree-climbing lions, leopards, wild hunting dogs and
black-backed jackal. You may also see crocodiles, monitor lizards,
yellow baboons and hippos. Return to the camp for lunch and then drive
back to Dar es Salaam. Drop off in the city centre.
Safari base vehicle + English speaking driver/guide
4 nights full board accommodation
Park fees & game drives
Complimentary mineral water daily on safari
Exclusive:
Drinks
Medical and luggage insurance
Tips and other personal expenses
Emergency evacuation insurance US $ 20 per person
The game viewing starts the moment the plane touches down. A giraffe
races beside the airstrip, all legs and neck, yet oddly elegant in its
awkwardness. A line of zebras parades across the runway in the giraffe's
wake.
In the distance, beneath a bulbous baobab tree, a few representatives of
Ruaha's 10,000 elephants - the largest population of any East African
national park, form a protective huddle around their young.
Second only to Katavi in its aura of untrammelled wilderness, but far
more accessible, Ruaha 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.
Ruaha's unusually high diversity of antelope is a function of its
location, which is transitional to the acacia savannah of East Africa
and the miombo woodland belt of Southern Africa. Grant's gazelle and
lesser kudu occur here at the very south of their range, alongside the
miombo-associated sable and roan antelope, and one of East AfricaÆs
largest populations of greater kudu, the park emblem, distinguished by
the male's magnificent corkscrew horns.
A similar duality is noted in the checklist of 450 birds: the likes of
crested barbet, an attractive yellow-and-black bird whose persistent
trilling is a characteristic sound of the southern bush, occur in Ruaha
alongside central Tanzanian endemics such as the yellow-collared
lovebird and ashy starling.
About Ruaha National Park
Size: 10,300 sq km (3,980 sq miles), Tanzania's 2nd biggest park.
Location: Central Tanzania, 128km (80 miles) west of Iringa.
Getting there
Scheduled and/or charter flights from Dar es Salaam, Selous, Serengeti,
Arusha, Iringa and Mbeya.
Year-round road access through Iringa from Dar es Salaam (about 10
hours) via Mikumi or from Arusha via Dodoma.
What to do
Day walks or hiking safaris through untouched bush.
Stone age ruins at Isimila, near Iringa, 120 km (75 miles) away, one of
Africa's most important historical sites .
Best time
For predators and large mammals, dry season (mid-May-December);
bird-watching, lush scenery and wildflowers, wet season (January-April).
The male greater kudu is most visible in June, the breeding season.
Accommodation
Riverside lodge;
three dry season tented camps;
self-catering bandas, two campsites;
Ruaha Hill Top Lodge
Mikumi National Park
Swirls of opaque mist hide the advancing dawn. The first shafts of sun
colour the fluffy grass heads rippling across the plain in a russet
halo. A herd of zebras, confident in their camouflage at this predatory
hour, pose like ballerinas, heads aligned and stripes merging in flowing
motion.
Mikumi National Park abuts the northern border of Africa's biggest game
reserve - the Selous – and is transected by the surfaced road between
Dar es Salaam and Iringa. It is thus the most accessible part of a
75,000 square kilometre (47,000 square mile) tract of wilderness that
stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean.
The open horizons and abundant wildlife of the Mkata Floodplain, the
popular centrepiece 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 favoured also by Mikumi's elephants.
Criss-crossed by a good circuit of game-viewing roads, the Mkata
Floodplain is perhaps the most reliable place in Tanzania for sightings
of the powerful eland, the world’s largest antelope. The equally
impressive greater kudu and sable antelope haunt the miombo-covered
foothills of the mountains that rise from the park’s borders.
More than 400 bird species have been recorded, with such colourful
common residents as the lilac-breasted roller, yellow-throated longclaw
and bateleur eagle joined by a host of European migrants during the
rainy season. Hippos are the star attraction of the pair of pools
situated 5km north of the main entrance gate, supported by an
ever-changing cast of waterbirds.
About Mikumi National Park
Size: 3,230 sq km (1,250 sq miles), the fourth-largest park in Tanzania,
and part of a much larger ecosystem centred on the uniquely vast Selous
Game Reserve.
Location: 283 km (175 miles) west of Dar es Salaam, north of Selous, and
en route to Ruaha, Udzungwa and (for the intrepid) Katavi. .
How to get there
A good surfaced road connects Mikumi to Dar es Salaam via Morogoro, a
roughly 4 hour drive.
Also road connections to Udzungwa, Ruaha and (dry season only) Selous.
Charter flight from Dar es Salaam, Arusha or Selous. Local buses run
from Dar to park HQ where game drives can be arranged.
What to do
Game drives and guided walks. Visit nearby Udzungwa or travel on to
Selous or Ruaha.
When to go
Accessible year round.
Accommodation
Two lodges, three luxury tented camps, three campsites.
Guest houses in Mikumi town on the park border. One lodge is proposed at
Mahondo and one permanent tented camp at Lumaaga
