Home to the world-famous Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Park are also found in this region.
Read MoreFeatures authentic safari tours in the less crowded parks including; Nyerere National Park (Selous), Mikumi, Udzungwa, and Ruaha National Park.
Read MoreHome to chimpanzee families which are found in Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains. This region embraces the parks along Lake Tanganyika.
Read MoreTanzania is a true wilderness – over thirty percent of the country is protected as parks and reserves. It is blessed with the winning combination of both superb big game and stunning tropical beaches. Very few destinations in Africa can match the diversity of animals, cultures, and landscapes.
Tanzania is the land of superlatives – it has the deepest, the highest, the largest, and the oldest. It is the home of the three largest lakes in Africa, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika (the second deepest lake in the world), and Lake Nyasa. It is the home of Kilimanjaro Mountain, the highest free-standing mountain on the planet, and the highest in Africa at 5895m. Dating back millions of years, Olduvai Gorge in Ngorongoro Conversation Area has yielded hundreds of fossils, stone tools, and archaeological discoveries that have led people to believe humans evolved in Africa.
Tanzania is the country in Africa where you can witness the Big Five and Wildebeest Migrations, experience hiking to the top of the highest mountain in Africa-Mount Kilimanjaro, and explore the natural beauty of world heritage sites- Serengeti, Selous, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and stunning beaches of Zanzibar. Equally remote western national parks – Gombe Stream and the Mahale Mountains are best known for chimpanzee life.
Undoubtedly, Tanzania’s northern safari circuit is the most celebrated safari area in Africa. The most popular areas include the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire, Lake Manyara National Park, Mount Meru, and its neighboring “big brother”, the tallest, free-standing mountain in Africa, the majestic snow-capped Kilimanjaro.
Unlike the North of Tanzania, the Southern part of the country offers some beautiful off-the-beaten-track safari experiences. Of the 20 national parks in Tanzania, five are located in the south – Nyerere, Mikumi, Ruaha, Udzungwa, and Kutulo which form the Southern Circuit. Huge craters and volcanoes testify to the tectonic forces that have shaped the landscape over millions of years.
The Gombe Stream and Mahale Mountains National Park are both located on the western circuit and can only be reached by boat from Kigoma. This also applies to Rubondo National Park, a mysterious, uninhabited island in the middle of Lake Victoria. An archaic Katavi National Park is also located here.
Tanzania’s eastern circuit includes Mkomazi and Sadaani National Park. The latter is the only park in which the beach meets the bush. It is the only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa with a beachfront on the Indian Ocean, and it possesses a beautiful tropical coastline. Mkomazi on the other hand is a vital refuge for two highly endangered species, the black rhino and African wild dog.
Zanzibar and Pemba Islands just off Tanzania’s coast offer incredible beach destinations from where you can relax after your safari. Zanzibar is booming as a destination, with backpackers and luxury beach vacationers. As a result, there are many fantastic Boutique hotels to choose from. Whether for honeymoon, family vacation, or relaxation after the safari there are many activities for every traveler.
Mafia Island lies 80 miles (130 km) southeast of Dar-es-Salaam and opposite the mouth of the Rufiji River. Diving on Mafia Island is exceptional with the mighty whale sharks that are found from October to March every year.
Main Entry Hub: Arusha (Kilimanjaro International Airport)
The main gateway to this circuit is the city of Arusha, which is served by Kilimanjaro International Airport – the most popular route comprising the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, Tarangire, and Kilimanjaro.
Main Entry Hub: Dar es Salaam (Julius Nyerere International Airport)
To get to the southern safari circuit, the main gateway is Dar es Salaam, a major city and commercial port in Tanzania that caters to numerous direct and indirect international flights as well as transfers to Zanzibar. This circuit comprises Nyerere National Park (Selous), Mikumi, Saadani, and Ruaha National Park. It is also possible to land in Zanzibar and take a domestic flight to northern and southern parks.
Depending on your plan, the main gateways into the western safari circuit are Tanzania’s major international hubs: Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) in Arusha or Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) in Dar es Salaam.
Most attractions are only accessible by either charter planes, a boat ride, or a train. This circuit comprises Gombe Stream National Park, Mahale Mountains National Park, and Katavi National Park.
Tanzania’s eastern circuit includes Mkomazi and Sadaani National Park. The latter is the only park in which the beach meets the bush. It is the only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa with a beachfront on the Indian Ocean, and it possesses a beautiful tropical coastline. Mkomazi on the other hand is a vital refuge for two highly endangered species, the black rhino and African wild dog.
Read about the when to travel and take a look at our proposed itineraries.
Tanzania’s northern circuit is a famous safari destination receiving a lot of tourists than the other circuits. It constitutes the attractions of Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Arusha National Park, Oldupai Gorge, Mount Meru, and its big brother the snow-capped, the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro.
The southern circuit is a wonderful destination to visit with some of the most remarkable sights in Africa. It is one of the best regions for sightings of rare African wild dogs. Nyerere National Park formerly known as Selous is well worth a visit. Apart from game drives, there are additional activities to do like a boat and a walking safari.
The northern and southern circuits each provide unique and distinct experiences. Between these two destinations, the northern circuit offers more classic safari options that the southern circuit which is famed for more off-the-beaten-track experiences in a truly wild setting.
While the northern circuit is very famous for the Great Wildebeest Migration that happens every single year in Serengeti National Park the southern circuit does not. The northern circuit is also popular for the ‘Big Five’ animals that including the lion, rhino, elephant, leopard, and the African buffalo.
The southern parks have more advantages of offering more tourist activities than the northern circuit considering that the private reserves and game parks there are less restricted as it is in the north.
Nyerere National Park (formerly Selous Game Reserve), Mikumi, Ruaha, and Udzungwa National Park are accessible by road from Dar es Salaam. Alternatively, there are daily scheduled light aircraft flights from Dar es Salaam, which makes it very easy to arrange safaris of any duration in these parks and also to combine them with a beach holiday on either the mainland coast or the Island of Zanzibar.
The west of Tanzania is more remote, both geographically and logistically – there are flights only twice a week from Arusha in the north. Parks here include Gombe, Mahale, and Katavi. Gombe and Mahale can also be reached from Kigoma by speedboat. Both parks can be accessible from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma by daily flights with Air Tanzania. Katavi is technically accessible by road, but it’s a long, rough ride and cannot be recommended to all but the hardiest of adventurers.
The cheapest way to get to Mafia Island from Nyerere National Park formerly known as Selous Game Reserve is by ferry departing from Nyamisati Ferry Terminal in Ikwiriri, Rufiji. The adventurous transfer takes about 4 hours to reach Mafia.
Posted onVerified Solid immersion in Tanzania's wildlife and nature! Our 3 day safari was extremely well organised. It started with a driver picking us up from our hotel in Zanzibar, and at the airport someone helped us get to our check in for the short flight. 50 mins later we landed on an airstrip while at least 7 giraffe watched us land from the side of the landing strip. Our guide, Mr. Maarufu was waiting for us and after a quick drive, we go to our lodge for breakfast. The room in Nyerere tented camp showed a luxury beyond our expectations and a comfort we had not anticipated. After breakfast, we were also joined by Mr. Bugusa who joined our trip as a French speaking guide. We got in our vehicle and the four of us kicked back and enjoyed the amazing landscape and wildlife. Th parks admission fees were already covered by the safari, and when we entered the park, Mr. Maarufu went in to deal with the paperwork while we could just wait 5 mins in the car. The guides took us to many parts of the park, near water, in the hills, between trees and out on open savannah. Lunch was offered on a mythical location right under a 2600 year old baobab tree. We were lucky to experience the beginning of the rainy season, which showed us how a few clouds drowned the fields and roads within minutes to then see everything clear up and dry up within half an hour. The guides navigated us further through the park and back to the lodge in time for dinner, all the time pointing out and naming animals, birds and plants whenever we asked. Dinner in the lodge was quiet and delicious, since we were lucky to have the lodge all by ourselves forth two nights we were there, just before a group of 24 was scheduled to arrive. The silence was perfect, allowing us to enjoy the sounds of many birds and at night, we heard wildlife walk through the camp. Masai guards stop watch near our tents throughout the night. They told us every morning what had passed us while we slept: buffalo, impala, hyena, warthogs… and even elephants a little further away. Day two was similar to day one, with a morning and afternoon drive in the park, with lunch under our favourite baobab. This time we got lucky and saw two lionesses with three cubs from really close! Mr. Maarufu and Mr. Bugusa managed to show us four wild dogs on our way to the river for our sunset boat safari. This was much calmer than we expected, but it allowed us to discover the wildlife of the river, with many small critters a birds as well as crocodiles an hippos. The final day started with a walking safari in the park, with a local bushman and a local ranger for protection. This was with 8 other people from another safari. Things looked good until we were once again blessed with a good thunderstorm. The guide ran with all of us to an abandoned house for shelter, where he shared more stories about nature and local medicine from plants and bark. After this walk, we had breakfast and then visited a Masai village. We were not sure if the village would be great or too touristy. But when we got there, it was a pleasant experience. It was not set up for tourism but for farming cattle, mainly goats, sheep and cows, with the village set up to do just that. It had a protective wall to defend against lions and hyena. Our local Masai, Veronica, showed us many details of their daily life, and at the end we enjoyed some traditional dancing and singing. From there, Mr. Bugusa took us back to the hotel for lunch and then back to the airport. The short flight back was efficient and if you have a child in your group, be fast because that child can sit next to the pilot up front! Back in Zanzibar airport, you don’t have to wait in line for visa, since you come from Tanzania! You can walk out directly and the Safari team had a taxi driver waiting outside for us to take us to our next hotel. Excellent experience with a solid team which was always extremely punctual, not something we expected on this trip!Posted onVerified A dream come true We were surprised how smoothly everything went. Everything that was promised was fulfilled. Mikuni Safari's guide Henrick is wonderful. Very good driver. Expert in animals and birds. Polite, helpful.Posted onVerified Thank you Vi valgte en 8 dagers safari, og fikk Enrich som sjåfør/guide. Han hadde stor kompetanse på området, og møtte oss alltid med og et smil. Vi ble, som avtalt, hentet på hotellet i Dar es Salam. Hele turen var veldig godt organisert, fra første samtale med Germano til vi ble hentet på flyplassen på Zanzibar etter endt safari. Veldig fornøyd med alt sammen, kan trygt anbefale African Vista som turoperatør.Posted onVerified Rekommenderar! Vi fick minnen för livet under den resa som African Vista arrangerade! Jag tog en tidig kontakt via Messenger och därefter gick allt utan några problem. Jag fick alltid snabba svar på mina frågor och värdefull information. Väl på plats fick vi en helhetslösning innehållande transfer och flyg, boende som flöt på utan några problem. Vår guide Maarufu var en mycket skicklig chaufför, tracker och lärare som gav oss obeskrivliga upplevelser och värdefull kunskap. Rekommenderar!Posted onVerified Amazing safari experience!! We booked our 3 day safari with African Vista to Selous Game Reserve (Nyerere National Park) after hourssssss of research and vetting company after company! Germano, our point of contact was absolutely incredible with answering my MANY emails and questions about absolutely everything. He is such a lovely and patient man. We paid 50% of the total cost as a deposit by online payment through a link and then we paid the remaining 50% in USD in both cash and card when we checked out on our last day. They arranged for us to be picked up by a driver from our hotel in Stone Town, Zanzibar, who then took us to the airport where the driver then walked us inside and waited for us to be met by someone else who then took us past all the queues for security right to the front and checked us in. Once we had our boarding passes he showed us through to the gate so we knew where to go. Upon landing at the airport, we were met by our driver, Mr Famous (who we even commented had the best vehicle we saw on the entire trip!). We had booked a private tour so it was just the 2 of us in an 8 seater vehicle and Mr Famous, which we would really recommend as you have the whole truck to use for your things and the option to move into the sun/shade etc during the day. From the airport, we went straight to our chosen accommodation, Nyerere Tented Camp, checked in, got the items we wanted to take on the drive with us and then left our bags at reception. We had breakfast which we could choose from pancakes, eggs, sausages, toast, a couple of other things and also had fruit with tea/coffee/juice/water. We were then surprised with a photographer for our drives who came with us to take photos of the animals we saw and of us too which was amazing!! We got some incredible shots and I would recommend booking him (his name is Innocent and he works at the accomodation and does their social media too and was an amazing guy!) We then set off for our first game drive which was a full day (absolutely amazing day!!!) with a packed lunch they packed for us. We saw so many animals all day and there was never a long period where we didn't see any! We stopped for lunch by a lake with lovely views of the hippos. A table and chairs were set up for us and we had lunch which was juice, water, a vegetable pastry which was lovely and filling, biscuits, fruit, an egg, a cake and a couple of other snacks. We saw so many elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, wildebeest, impalas, hippos, waterbucks, baboons, eagles and numerous birds, and lions, getting so close, as well as a few other animals! All the while learning about them and their behaviour etc. When we returned to the accomodation, we were shown to our room which was amazing. Shower pressure was great, bed and pillows were comfy and we had a fan. We requested another so we could have one each side of us and it was perfect in the night when sleeping. They also stopped any outside noise and there was a mosquito layer on the tent that you zip up separately to zipping up your actual tent doorway too. Dinners were great, a lovely soup (we had pumpkin one night and then cucumber the next which we had never had before but both were so nice) followed by a main of chicken, rice and vegetables, or chicken, chips, and salad etc and fruit. Each night, we were walked to and from our accommodation to dinner (only a few steps away as we were in one of the closer tents) by people from the Maasai tribe to keep us safe in case any animals were around as it was dark (there never were during our stay). The second day we had another amazing game drive also seeing hyenas and a leopard (!) this time, a lion eating a giraffe and elephants taking a mud bath. We had another lovely lunch with a salad sandwich this time at a lovely place with a view of a different lake. We also rarely saw other vehicles during the day, there were a few at the lions and then they seemed to disappear which was so nice, it felt like nobody else was there and you had the place to yourselves! We were then taken to our boat safari where we were with 3 other people, a guide and a captain where we saw numerous birds, elephants right up close, a crocodile and hippos and learnt a little about them too. On our third day we did a bush walk at 6:30am which was great, so interesting and informative, with such an engaging man, teaching us all sorts from plants, to animals to trees, followed by going to visit a Maasai tribe in their village which was brilliant and we both really loved this experience. We got to dress in their clothes, join in with their traditional dance, and were shown around and told about their life by someone who lived there who spoke brilliant English and had a great sense of humour! He showed us where he lived, their place for meetings and conferences, their hospital area, their many cows, goats and animals and told us how they live and how they came to be there. I'd definitely recommend doing this as part of your safari itinerary, it was a highlight for us. We then returned to the camp for lunch (all waiters and reception staff, Maasai people were so so welcoming, friendly and helpful) and then had time to shower, pack and relax a little before being taken to the airport (only a 10 minute drive away). Our taxi was the only one to wait with us until our plane arrived and we sat in the vehicle to wait. Mr Famous went and got our boarding passes for us and came back with information regarding the flight. Others were standing around or sitting on the floor and had been left alone so we really appreciated the extra level of care that African Vista go to, in ensuring their guests feel comfortable, looked after and are not alone! We only had to wait around 15/20 minutes (there's no security or anything to go through, you just walk straight onto the plane). Once we landed, we had another lovely driver, Isaac pick us up, took us to our previous hotel in Stone Town to collect our luggage and then took us to our next hotel in Kendwa. I would absolutely recommend African Vista to anybody looking to book a safari, as well as the park and the accomodation. African Vista were so communicative, responsive, put your mind at ease, made everything easy and enjoyable, their level of care and customer service was excellent, and their vehicles compared to the few others we saw during the few days were sooo much better! They were open which allowed for an amazing breeze and also made the safari experience feel really authentic rather than sitting in a normal enclosed jeep which you could do at home. We saw others with a viewing bit at the top of their vehicle so they had to stand to see properly and take photos so they were always standing on the few occasions we saw them, whereas we could remain seated, relaxed, comfortable and the perfect temperature with the breeze! If anyone has any questions at all, I would be more than happy to answer and help out. But African Vista will have everything covered for you! Just brilliant!!Posted onVerified Asante sana The safari Selous went incredibly We had an amazing and unforgettable experience. Our guide, Gervas, and our driver, Maarufu, were sensational and incredibly kind. The camp was fabulous with attentive staff. Thank you, thank you, we will be back!Posted onVerified Very Nice safari at Selous Park in Tanzania We spent a day on safari with Gladys, a wonderful French-speaking guide. We learned a lot about the lives of the animals and were lucky enough to see many of them. Gladys is truly a lovely person and a very knowledgeable and attentive guide. We traveled with our two children (6 and 9 years old), and she took great care of them throughout the day. The overall organization was excellent (hotel pick-up by taxi, flight from Zanzibar to Tanzania, and arrival in Selous National Park where Gladys was waiting for us). A big thank you to Germano for this excellent organization and to Gladys for her kindness and availability. A safari to do without hesitation!Posted onVerified Best decision we made on our trip🧡 Germano and African Vista made an unforgettable experience possible for us, and they were able to kindly do that very last minute since we approached them after a change of plans and for a reasonable price. We were transferred by the coolest Tanzanian, Dozo, from Dar Es Salam to Nyerere National Park where we did an incredible Safari with Merufu, an awesome guide with whose guidance we were able to see two lions from close by and so many animals that we haven't seen in previous safaris like kudus, impalas, hyenas, wild dogs and even one leopard! We also did a river safari where Winnie (a lovely and very knowledgeable new guide) and Abdul (whose talent in spotting animals amazed us) showed us hippos, crocodiles and birds. That is away from the hustle and countless tourists of the north. On our last day we were charmed by the Masais as we spent some time in an authentic boma and asked them hundreds of questions. A big mention and thank you to Elias and Mesheck who made us feel welcome with their kindness and smiles and of course cooked some incredible food for us in beautiful Mloka Lodge! Thank you all very very much, you made this incredible memory for us and we will not forget you. Asante sana! ♥️Tripadvisor rating score: 4.9 of 5, based on 41 reviews
