8-Day Southern Circuit: Selous & Ruaha

Your safari begins in Dar es Salaam. A member of the Gip-Adventure Tours & Safaris team meets you at 07:00 at Julius Nyerere International Airport, or collects you from your hotel in the city, and you set off by road for Nyerere National Park – the vast southern wilderness carved out of the great Selous Game Reserve, some 235 km from Dar es Salaam at Mtemere Gate. A packed lunch travels with you.

On reaching your lodge, unwind after the drive with a dip in the swimming pool. In the evening, a bush dinner around a bonfire can be arranged – a stylish first taste of the African wilderness. Your lodge is well located, with spacious rooms and excellent wildlife viewing.

Dinner and overnight at your lodge inside Nyerere National Park.

After a hearty breakfast, your game drive starts at around 08:00 with lunch in the bush. Nyerere rewards you with spectacular views, varied terrain and rich birdlife, along with large pods of hippos and crocodiles swimming in the rivers.

After lunch, enjoy a short game drive before returning to your lodge for dinner and the night.

Set out after breakfast at around 08:00 for another full day in the park. The included boating safari takes you along the river among hippos and crocodiles, and a walking safari brings you closer to the tracks, plants and smaller creatures of the bush.

Lunch is taken in the park, followed by a short game drive and dinner back at your lodge.

Your final full day in Nyerere begins after breakfast at around 08:00. The included hot-air balloon safari can be arranged during your stay, and the day's game drive searches for zebra herds, troops of chattering primates and the big cats that follow the game.

After a picnic lunch and a short afternoon drive, return to your lodge for dinner and the night.

After a hearty breakfast at around 08:00, drive west to Ruaha National Park with lunch on the way. After lunch, enjoy a short game drive before continuing to your lodge, which offers serene views over the park.

Ruaha is Tanzania's second-largest national park, remote and rarely crowded, its rivers drawing elephant, giraffe, buffalo, hippo and crocodile. Dinner and overnight at your lodge in Ruaha National Park.

Spend a full day on game drives and other activities in Ruaha, with all meals on a full-board basis. The park is home to more than 10% of Africa's remaining wild lions and some of the largest elephant herds in East Africa.

Return to your lodge in the late afternoon for dinner and the night.

A second full day lets you explore further along the Great Ruaha River, searching for greater kudu – the park's emblem – and the endangered African wild dog, of which Ruaha holds the world's third-largest population.

Enjoy lunch in the bush and a final evening at your lodge, with dinner and overnight included.

After a warm breakfast at your lodge at around 08:00, set off on the long drive from Ruaha back to Dar es Salaam.

On arrival you are dropped off at your hotel or transferred to the airport for your departure flight.