The National Parks in the Southern Circuit have gradually earned reputation amongst connoisseurs as the best-kept secret on the African safari circuit offering remote, untouched swathes of game-filled wilderness with an exclusive born of isolated access. Remote location, limited bedscape and boundless bush will ensure even as awareness grows of the bounteous wildlife roaming these lands, the safari experience of Tanzania’s Southern safariland will remain of the true and un unadulterated variety.
Ruaha National Park
Ruaha features a landscape of rolling plains and gentle hills framed by savanna woodlands, crossed by the dramatic Great Rift Valley. In this, the largest national park in Tanzania (just over 5,000 square kilometers), more antelope species are found than in any other wildlife preserve in Africa. Due to its huge extent and remote location, it is the least visited of Tanzania’s national parks. Visitors to this park can see herds of buffalo and elephants as well as lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dog, and hyenas without encountering many other human visitors. As the rivers and springs begin to dry up during the May to October dry season, wildlife is concentrated around just a few rivers and water holes, making for dramatic viewing. From December to May, bird-watching is excellent.
Things to do:
Birding Safaris, Boating and Canoeing, Walking Safaris, Wildlife Safaris
Mikumi National Park
The grassy plains of the Mikumi National Park are surrounded by mountains which concentrate the wildlife in the large bowl that is formed in their midst. Herds of elephants and pride of lions are common here as well as zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and impala. The 400 identified species that comprise the rich resident birdlife is enhanced by the number of migrants that fly through Mikumi as they escape from severe weather in their Eurasian homes. The eland, the largest of the antelopes and the rare Sable Antelope are found within the 3,230 square kilometers of Mikumi National Park. Mikumi is only 200 kilometers from Dar es Salaam.
Things to do:
Birding Safaris, Walking Safaris, Wildlife Safaris
Kitulo National Park
Kitulo National Park is also called the garden of God, the park is located at a chilly high plateau which is a vast open grassland that stretches away after kilometer. One may not believe that is in Equatorial Africa as the area is more reminiscent of the Scottish highlands.
The fauna of the park is highly varied but most important of all, the Kitulo Plateau is one of the great floral spectacles of the world. The botanist call this rolling, undulating environment or the Serengeti of Flowers due to the diversity of flower.
Things to do:
Birding Safaris, Walking Safaris, Wildlife Safaris
Udzungwa Mountains National Park
The park is most significant example of the natural world of the Eastern Arc Mountains that run in a chain of through the whole of Tanzania. It is the forest that make Udzungwa unique in East Africa, because there is no other place where an unbroken series of forests stretching from an altitude of 250 metres up to more than 2000 metres has been successfully preserved like in Udzungwa.
Things to do:
Birding Safaris, Mountain Biking, Mountain Climbing, Walking Safaris, Wildlife Safaris