Ten nights across southern Tanzania and out to the Indian Ocean, linking three distinct places. You begin in the remote southern reaches of Ruaha National Park, where a seasonal sand river draws elephants, kudu and lions. Next comes Nyerere National Park on the Rufiji, country built for walking and boating where wild dog are a consistent feature. The trip closes on Pemba Island, a forest-backed beach with wall diving in the Pemba Channel.
You travel by light aircraft between the parks, then a flight and road transfer to Pemba. Days run to game drives, walks with armed rangers and boat safaris on the Rufiji, before the pace settles to diving and forest walks on the coast. Each stay is a small, well-set camp or resort chosen for its setting rather than its size.
Days deep in the southern reaches of Ruaha National Park, out on game drives that rarely meet another vehicle, with walking on the sand river in the dry season led by a qualified guide and an armed park ranger. Elephants, kudu and baboons move along the riverbed within sight of the tents, and lions have been heard passing through camp in the dark. Fly-camping is available for a night out under canvas. Jongomero Camp stands alone on the Jongomero sand river, eight canvas tents on raised wooden decks beneath makuti thatch, with an open-sided lounge, a dining terrace and a pool at its centre.
From Ruaha you continue to Nyerere National Park, on the northern bank of the Rufiji, where the days turn on walking safaris with armed rangers and boat safaris on the river and its lakes. Wild dog are a consistent feature here, while lion and hyena are close to certain and elephant and buffalo gather at the water through the dry season. Motorboats run upstream to Stiegler's Gorge and downstream past pelicans and nesting bee-eaters, and the Tagalala hot springs lie a few kilometres from the water. Sand Rivers has eight stone-and-thatch cottages open to a bend of the Rufiji, with hippos and crocodiles on the sandbanks below.
The trip ends on the northern tip of Pemba Island, reached by flight and then a road transfer through clove plantations and villages, skirting the Ngezi Forest Reserve. Diving starts close to shore, where the reef falls sheer into the Pemba Channel and wall and drift dives run past turtles, eagle rays, reef sharks and schooling barracuda. Guided walks into Ngezi, home to the endemic Pemba flying fox, fill the hours between dives. The Manta Resort keeps to one stretch of beach, its rooms low under makuti thatch, with its best-known bedroom submerged roughly four metres offshore behind glass.
Ed Charles, BBC Producer
Fitzroy are true specialists in accessing the wilderness. They know where to go and importantly, when to go there. Highly recommended.
01 of 11
kenya & tanzania
Fourteen nights from Nairobi's park to the western Maasai Mara and nine nights on Zanzibar's south-east coast.
01 of 11
tanzania
Ten nights in Tanzania, from boat and walking safaris on the Rufiji lakes to the reefs and forest of Pemba Island.
01 of 14
tanzania & kenya
A 21-night route from a Serengeti kopje to a Mara riverbank and the private conservancies of Laikipia and Lewa.
rated five stars by our clients
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
Every journey starts with a conversation. We favour a direct, personal approach: understanding your vision before anything else.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape a journey that is both thoughtfully considered and expertly delivered.
Get in touch to start planning yours.
