Thanks Leely. Not dusty in the camps at all.

Hi atravelynn.
This was a private safari with EASTCO.

Day 1. Met at Dar es Salaam airport and transferred to Sea Cliff Hotel. Briefing with our guide that afternoon.

Day 2. Left Dar in our 4WD and travelled to Selous GR via Kibiti and Utete. Picnic lunch between Kibiti and Ngulakula village. Entered Selous GR at Mtemere Gate and travelled 67km to our camp, game viewing en route. Overnight at our camp at Beho Beho Special Campsite on the Beho Beho River.

Days 3 and 4. Game viewing within the Selous GR. Overnights in camp.

Day 5. Depart for Mikumi NP via Kisaki and Morogoro. Game viewing en route. Picnic lunch at Ruvu River near Mtombo. Overnight at Vuma Hills Tented Camp in Mikumi NP.

Day 6. Morning game drive in Mikumi NP. Picnic lunch at Hippo Pool within NP. After lunch left for Iringa. Overnight at Isimila Hotel in Iringa.

Day 7. Left for Ruaha NP. Picnic lunch at park gate. Afternoon game viewing. Overnight at our camp at Mbagi Special Campsite on the Mwagusi River, 20km from Park HQ.

Days 8, 9 and 10. Game viewing within Ruaha NP. Overnights in camp.

Day 11. Early morning game drive before farewelling our guide and getting on our flight at Msembe to Dar via Jongomero, Beho Beho and Selous HQ airstrips. Overnight in Sea Cliff Hotel, Dar es Salaam.

Steve

Steve,
Would you mind posting the approx drive times between each location? We get very few reports of southern Tanzania safaris traveling by road, so I don't have a good sense of how far everything is. Thanks!

Hi Patty,
Dar to Mtemere Gate in Selous takes a good 8 hours. The road is bitumen until Kibiti (160kms) and then it is a rough track after that (100km). From our camp at Beho Beho to Mikumi (270km) takes about 8 1/2 hours. Very rough road (read track)for most of the way to Morogoro and then bitumen. Mikumi to Iringa (215km) takes about 4 hours on good bitumen. Iringa to Ruaha (115km) is 2 1/2 hours on good red dirt road.
I feel driving is really the only way to do it, as rough as it is. To see the villages, the people, the children, the crops, the changing vegetation, landscapes and vistas, you really get a feel for Tanzania.
Steve

sd: thanks for providing all the great info and pictures! One question: in Ruaha can you go off road for game drives or are there rules that restrict you to defined tracks? In my mind I was picturing it as an off road kind of place but it just hit me that a lot of the national parks do have restrictions.

Hi PredatorBiologist,
Driving is restricted to the roads/tracks in Ruaha. In that regard it is no different than any other national park in Tanzania.
Steve

Thanks for the quick response Steve! I was hoping for a different answer but clearly you had wonderful drives with no one else around so it must work well.

Steve:
Thanks for the report and pictures. You have provided a nice addition to southern TZ reports and with your advocacy of the long drives.