7-Day Southern Circuit: Mikumi, Udzungwa & Ruaha

Your Gip Adventure team member will meet you at 07:00 on arrival at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, or collect you from your hotel in the city. From here you set off by road, heading west for Mikumi National Park, with a picnic lunch along the way.

Mikumi is the nearest national park to Dar es Salaam and the most accessible corner of the southern wilderness. Settle in at your camp in the park, where the area around Mwanamboga is known for excellent game viewing, and enjoy dinner and your first night in the bush.

After a hearty breakfast at around 08:00, set out on a full day of game viewing in Mikumi. The park's open horizons and abundant wildlife stretch from the Mkata floodplain across the grassy plains, dotted with tall termite mounds, where great herds of large herbivores move across the landscape.

Lunch is taken at a picnic site in the park. Afterwards there is time for a shorter afternoon game drive before you return to your camp for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast at around 08:00, drive the 65 km from Mikumi to the Udzungwa Mountains National Park (some 350 km from Dar es Salaam). Udzungwa is a magnet for hikers, with an excellent network of forest trails, including the popular half-day ramble to the Sanje Waterfalls, which plunge 170 metres through a misty spray into the forested valley below.

Birders are drawn to this beautiful park too, with more than 400 bird species recorded alongside a fascinating variety of mammals. Enjoy lunch at a picnic site, followed by a shorter afternoon hike, then continue to your lodge close to the Udzungwa forest, where the climate is fresh and cool, for dinner and overnight.

After a hearty breakfast at around 08:00, leave the mountains behind and set off on the long drive to Ruaha National Park, Tanzania's second-largest park and one of the wildest corners of the south.

As you reach the park, game viewing begins on the way to your lodge, with lunch at a picnic site en route. Arrive in time to settle in and enjoy dinner and your first night in Ruaha, often to the sounds of the river and the bush around you.

After a warm breakfast at around 08:00, set out on a full day of game drives in this magnificent and unique East African park. Greater kudu – the park's emblem – are found here in large numbers, crocodiles bask along the riverbanks, hippos slosh in the water and an impressive number of predators prowl the plains.

The varied habitats and dramatic terrain add to the sense of wilderness. Lunch is at a picnic site, followed by a shorter afternoon game drive, before you return to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

A second full day in Ruaha begins with a hearty breakfast at around 08:00, then a game drive through the park in search of the lions, elephants, wild dogs and many other species that make Ruaha so rewarding. Lunch is taken at a picnic site in the bush.

After a shorter game drive in the early afternoon, return to your lodge at around 16:00 for a relaxing late afternoon. Enjoy dinner and your final night in Ruaha.

After a warm breakfast at your lodge, begin the transfer back to Dar es Salaam, with lunch served in the vehicle along the way.

On arrival in Dar es Salaam you will be dropped off for your onward departure, bringing your southern Tanzania safari to an end.