jules39

Hi

We are thinking we want to head back to Tanzania but this time to the south. I have a couple of questions I am hoping someone can enlighten me on.
When is the best time to visit Ruaha & Seleus areas? From what I am reading I get the idea it is June - Dec?? Although somewhere else I read Feb-May also. We are not restricted to a particular time of year. I keep telling my husband that we will not see the same concentration of wildlife down there as we did in say the Ngorongoro crater but that we should still be able to get pretty close and see a fair amount. Am I right? Any leopods down there?!!

Thank you very much in advance J

Patty

I haven't been there but have been doing some research. From what I understand June through November are supposed to be the best months for game viewing. Many camps in Selous close seasonally from mid-March to the end of May. Not sure about Ruaha.

Try the following links for info:

http://www.africatravelresource.com/...-selous/00.htm

http://www.africatravelresource.com/...2-ruaha/00.htm

Click on detailed guide and there are general descriptions of the seasons.

tuskerdave

hi, i'll get back to this later this eve. i went to mikumi & ruaha this past sept. awesome!!
david

africa_lover

Hi Jules,

We visited Selous (Sand Rivers Lodge) last July and had a great time.
Nature is totally different here from the northern part of Tanzania. You could compare it more to Botswana I would say. As Sand Rivers lies along the Rufiji River, we saw hundreds (if not thousands) of hippo and crocodiles.
You won't find the big herds of wildebeest and zebra here as you do on the Serengeti plains, but we saw a herd of 15 giraffes while going on a walk.
We saw elephants, lions, a pack of wilddogs. We did see a leopard, but not up close, we had to use our binoculars to get a clear sight.
Selous was definitely one of the best safari places that we have visited , lots of animals, very nice bush, not a lot of tourists, and Sand Rivers is really top!

jules39

Thanks for the info so far. tuskerdave I look forward to what you have ot say.
Patty I am exploring your links. Thank you.
Africa lover thsnk you too!
J

tuskerdave

hello jules here is a link. it is easier for me at this time. to do it this way. e-mail there if you need to.
thanks, david
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/1e53c/22209b/

RuthieC

We spent 2 weeks on the Southern Circuit back in June 2003. Don't know if this is the best time of year but it was pretty stupendous. Didn't get to Selous, but were in Mikumi which is really the same park. The grass was very dry but still a little high which made viewing a bit difficult but we still saw quite a bit.

We also spent 5 nights in Ruaha and we had great game viewing - and yes we saw leopard - only once, but it was enough! Also everything seemed to be mating while we were there - from fish eagles to hippos, they were all at it.

I've re-posted the link to our photo album to give you an idea of what the terrain was like. Also if you do a search under Southern Circuit you should find our trip report.

http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.js...p;sort_order=0

Ruaha is still my most favourite of all the safari areas we've visited (even though we only got back from S Luangwa in Zambia less than 2 weeks ago!) I can't recommend it highly enough. The scenery is breathtaking and the game viewing excellent.

jules39

Thanks Ruthie & Dave it was great to have so many photos to get a real feel for the landscape. I will be showing them to my husband tonight.

Thanks agian J