The northern circuit is not the whole of Tanzania.
The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are extraordinary — we would not say otherwise. But Tanzania is a large country with eleven national parks and several major game reserves, and the wildlife experiences in the south and west are different in character, not inferior. If you have already done the northern circuit, or if you are planning a longer journey and want to understand what else exists, this is where the other half of Tanzania lives.
Tanzania's largest national park
Ruaha National Park
At 45,000 square kilometres, Ruaha is not merely large — it is empty in a way the northern circuit no longer is. The park receives a fraction of the visitors of the Serengeti, which means the wildlife is less habituated to vehicles and the experience is more immediate. The Great Ruaha River runs through the park's heart, and during the dry season the concentrations of elephant around its pools are among the most extraordinary wildlife spectacles in Africa. Ruaha also holds one of Tanzania's most significant lion populations — prides of thirty or more are not unusual.
Why This Place
- —Elephant herds of 500+ in dry season
- —Rare wild dog packs — Ruaha holds 10-15% of Africa's population
- —Oldest baobab forests in Tanzania
- —Fly-camping available in the park's remote reaches
Best Time
June–December (dry season for wildlife density; green season for birds and photography)
Africa's largest game reserve — and one of its most remote
Selous Game Reserve
Selous is not a national park — it is a game reserve, which means different management and different rules. The result is one of the least developed high-quality safari environments in Tanzania. The Rufiji River bisects the reserve, creating a landscape of islands, channels, and lagoons that is entirely unlike the open plains of the north. Boat safaris here are possible — hippos surface around your vessel, crocodiles line the sandbanks, and the birdlife along the river is extraordinary. Walking safaris in Selous are among the most authentic in Africa.
Why This Place
- —Rufiji River boat safaris — unique in Tanzania's major reserves
- —Africa's largest concentration of hippos
- —Wild dog denning sites — regular sightings
- —Walking safaris allowed — genuine wilderness feel
- —Fly-camping in remote areas
Best Time
July–October (dry season); April–May (exceptional birdlife, few visitors)
Chimpanzees and lake and nothing else
Mahale Mountains National Park
Mahale is the most unusual of Tanzania's major safari destinations. The park is a strip of mountain forest on the shores of Lake Tanganyika — the world's second-deepest lake, clear and turquoise at the shore. The reason people come is the chimpanzees. A community of approximately 800 chimps lives in the mountains, and habituated groups allow something almost no other primate experience offers: genuine proximity. You can sit within metres of a chimp mother with her infant. This is not a zoo encounter — it is wild, unpredictable, and profoundly moving. After the chimps, there is kayaking, snorkelling in the lake, and the extraordinary experience of absolute wilderness accessed by boat.
Why This Place
- —Chimpanzee trekking — one of Africa's most intimate wildlife experiences
- —Lake Tanganyika — crystal clear water, snorkelling, kayaking
- —No roads within the park — all access by boat
- —Camp at the water's edge under the mountains
- —Elephant and buffalo also present in the forest
Best Time
June–October (dry season; chimps easier to find as water sources concentrate)
Tanzania's most remote major park — and arguably its wildest
Katavi National Park
Katavi receives fewer than a thousand visitors per year. Let that number settle. The park is enormous — 4,471 square kilometres — and almost entirely undeveloped. The central feature is the Katuma River, which during the dry season shrinks to a chain of muddy pools that hold concentrations of hippo and crocodile that are difficult to comprehend until you are standing at the water's edge. The buffalo herds are the largest in Africa. Lions are abundant. Leopard are frequently seen. The reason people come is the same reason so few do: this is Africa as it was before the roads and the lodges and the scheduled game drives. Getting there is not easy — a small propeller plane and then a drive across floodplains — which is precisely the point.
Why This Place
- —Fewer than 1,000 visitors per year
- —Hippo congregations of 200+ in the dry season
- —Africa's largest buffalo herds
- —Genuine remote wilderness — no mobile signal at most camps
- —One of the last truly inaccessible safari destinations in Africa
Best Time
July–October (dry season — wildlife concentrated around water sources)
Ready to go further?
Tell Don what you have already seen and what you want to find. He will design a route that goes beyond the obvious — and beyond the crowds.