7 Days Budget Camping Safari in Tanzania

Day 1: Dar es Salaam to Selous Game Reserve

By morning, you will depart to Selous Game Reserve. With picnic lunch, the journey will take five hours. In the late afternoon, there will be a boat safari along the mighty Rufiji River, that brings you into close contact with hippos, crocodiles, and fantastic birdlife. Crocodiles glide into the water as your boat approaches and hippos appear in frightening proximity, grunting and blowing steam. Dinner and overnight will be at Selous Tagalala Campsite. Lunch and dinner are included.

Day 2: Foot walking safari and game drive in Selous Game Reserve

Morning after breakfast, there will be a wilderness walking safari with the guidance of an armed ranger for two hours. Walking safari will give you a particularly intimate feel for the African wilds. Sometimes the guide also performs and it is dressed as a bushman in an authentic African costume. It starts in the morning. After walking, you will get into the vehicle and proceed to have a full day of exploration in the Selous Game Reserve.

This is your chance to take good photographic opportunities and the chance to explore different sections of the vast park. The Selous Game Reserve is the largest in Africa, covering 54,600 square kilometers. Selous is famous for its elephants, commonly seen are lions, wild dogs, buffaloes, bushbuck, impalas, elands, baboons, zebras and greater kudus. Dinner and overnight will be at Selous Tagala Campsite. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included.

Driving time could be up to 7.5 hours.

Day 3: Selous Crossing to Mikumi National Park

You will have morning breakfast, then you will pack lunches as you depart for a game drive around Selous in the safari vehicle. By midday, you will proceed to Mikumi National Park. Your journey will take you to the most amazing and truly wild and untouched areas of Tanzania. The drive will take you up into the Uluguru Mountains across rivers and past small local villages and farms.

The drive is tiring, but possibly the most rewarding and adventurous on the southern circuit. Dinner and overnight will be at Kisungura Campsite. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included.

Driving time could be up to 7.5 hours.

Day 4: Mikumi Maasai Village to Ruaha National Park

After your breakfast, you will be transferred to Ruaha National Park, with a stopover in Iringa town for lunch. You will then proceed to the park for a short game drive till sunset, look for roan, sable antelope, hippo, crocodile, waterbuck, reedbuck, and buffalo.

You can venture to the river's edge to drink, attracting the attention of lion, leopard, hyena, wild dog, and jackal. There are many birds in the park, including Eurasia migrants that come to visit the park twice a year. Dinner and overnight will be at Msembe Campsite. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included.

Driving time could be up to 7.5 hours.

Day 5: Full day of game drive in Ruaha Park

After your breakfast, there will be a full day game viewing drive in the park. A fine network of game-viewing roads follows the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries, where during the dry season, impala, waterbuck, and other antelopes risk their life for a sip of life-sustaining water. The risk is considerable, not only from the pride of more than 20 lions that lord over the savannah, but also from the cheetahs that stalk the open grassland and the leopards that lurk in tangled riverine thickets.

The impressive array of large predators is boosted by both striped and spotted hyena, as well as several conspicuous packs of the highly endangered African wild dogs. Dinner and overnight will be at Msembe Campsite. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included.

Driving time could be up to 7.5 hours.

Day 6: Ruaha Park to Ismila Stone Age to Mikumi National Park

You will depart Ruaha just after breakfast to Iringa town, where you will be able to visit Isimila Stone Age, a historical site where you will have lots to learn. The tour of the site begins at the little museum, where a guide will give a brief introduction to the formation of the site and will explain more about the fossils and tools that are displayed.

The tour then continues into the canyon down a steep footpath. Once there, the guide will show some of the beds where the tools were found and explained how the rock towers were formed. The walk is very scenic, the earth has a warm reddish tint and it is also a good spot to see birds. By midday, you will drive to Mikumi Park for dinner and overnight at Mikumi Kusungura Campsite.

Driving time could be up to 7.5 hours.

Day 7: Mikumi Game Viewing to Dar es Salaam for departure

After breakfast, you will proceed with your safari activities at Mikumi before you return to Dar Es Salaam, arriving in the late afternoon or early evening. You will then be transferred back to the hotel in Dar es Salaam. Today's meal plan includes breakfast and lunch.

Driving time could be up to 7.5 hours.

Cultural Visits

You can visit a local village on the outskirts of the Selous Game Reserve, and walk around on the farms, seeing the different crops planted by the villagers in this area, and maybe even the difficulties of running a small farm near a Game Reserve. On the village trip, you can also visit the local school and may be invited into local homes as well as join into village dances if they are being held as well as the odd football match might be visited.

This tour will take place in Selous Game Reserve, Mikumi National Park, Ruaha National Park, and in Ismila Stone Age in Tanzania.

Selous Ngalawa Camp provides varieties of meals. Breakfast is a buffet consisting of hot cinnamon rolls, eggs and toast, served with coffee or tea, and juices. The lunch is a buffet or a simple packed lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and cakes if you're going out on a full-day drive.

The dinner is a three-course affair, often taken out on the terrace under the stars weather permitting. The starters are served at your table, think tempura vegetables, or an onion soup with warm bread rolls.

The main course is a buffet of various meats, pasta, curries, and vegetarian dishes. Dessert may be a sponge cake with chocolate sauce, a little bit bland, but Selous Ngalawa Camp was told that it is hard to get a lot of ingredients so far out in the bush. If you are lucky, the Bushmen may entertain you while you eat and during the walking safari, with singing and dancing.

• Game drives as per itinerary
• All transportation
• All activities (unless labeled as optional)
• Meals as specified in the itinerary
• 6 nights accommodation
• A professional driver guide
• All taxes and VAT
• Camping equipment
• Park fees for non-residents
• Round-trip airport transfers
• Sleeping bag

• International flights
• Some meals not specified in the itinerary
• Government imposed increase of taxes and park fees
• Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
• Bath towels
• Drinks
• Personal items like souvenirs, travel insurance, and visa fees
• Tips (10 USD per day)

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• A reservation requires a deposit of 20% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid on arrival.