This journey combines Africa's largest protected savannah wilderness area, the Udzungwa Mountains rainforest biodiversity hotspot and a choice of some of Tanzania's richest and most stunning island marine life and forest locations.

Savannahs

After arriving in Dar es Salaam, your private guide and driver will take you on the start of a one week private overland journey to the Mikumi National Park, the rainforests of the Udzungwa Mountains and the 44,800 sq. km Selous National Park.  The Selous is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, dominated through the centre by the Rufiji River which acts as a magnet for surrounding wildlife. This includes large prides of lions, Africa's highest concentration of hippopotamus, elephants, tree climbing leopards and the continent's rarest predator, the hunting dog.  It is also provides some excellent bird watching with more than 350 species of bird.

Whilst your private 4WD vehicle provides an ideal way to explore parts of the park, the labyrinth of islets, lagoons and swamps are best explored by boat. We can also incorporate walking safaris in the Selous to give you yet another experience of the savannah wilderness.

The Mikumi National Park is an ideal resting post between the Selous and the rainforests of the Udzungwa Mountains. As Tanzania's third largest reserve, it also has some excellent wildlife of its own - in particular in the Makata floodplain. This includes large herds of buffalo, Nyasa blue wildebeest, zebra, giraffes and zebras, spread across a yellow, orange and green landscape of open grasslands and bush. Lions are never far from these herds and birdlife is rich here with more than 400 recorded species including Lilac-breasted Rollers, the Bateleur Eagle and a host of migrant species attracted by the rains, pools and Makata River.

Rainforest

The Udzungwa Mountains are in stark contrast to grassy plains of Mikumi. Here mountain peaks rise more than 2,400 metres, with waterfalls and rivers cutting through an unbroken canopy 30m above your head. Wildlife is rich with 11 species of primate, 5 of which are endemic to Tanzania.  Species include the Sanje Crested Mangabey, Iringa red colobus, black and white colobus, blue monkeys and vervets. Larger mammals such as elephants, lions, duikers and pangolin can also be found here, but this forest habitat takes a different balance of your senses to pick up their presence.

The Udzungwas are part of Africa's Eastern Arc Mountains which stretch from the far south of Tanzania to the Somali border with Kenya. The forests within this arc are broken into 'islands' of intense endemic diversity. Approximately 40% of all plants within this region are found nowhere else. Birdlife is also diverse with some 400 species recorded in the Udzungwas.

Marine Life

For marine life and some simply stunning Indian Ocean coastlines, we take you either to Mafia Island, or a combination of Chumbe, Pemba and Zanzibar.  The tiny island of Chumbe is probably East Africa's best protected and preserved small reef system, with some 400 species of fish and 200 species of coral. It is ideal for snorkelers with a shallow reef and island rangers on hand to help you explore and learn about the colourful marine life here. An award-winning waterside ecolodge is nestled amongst the island's coral rag forest, through which there are trails you can walk in search of metre wide coconut crabs and reintroduced Aiders duikers.

Visits to Chumbe always require a stopover in Zanzibar where you will stay in the spice island capital of Stone Town.  For those without the time to visit Pemba, we add an extra day here to visit the Jozani coral rag forest, home of the Red Colobus which is endemic to Zanzibar. We also take you along a series of boardwalks through the neighbouring Chwaka Bay mangroves.

Pemba Island is Zanzibar's more verdant neighbour. Whilst our focus is on the stunning islets along Pemba's western coast, you will be able to see the south and east of the island as you fly in, with views combining shallow blue water channels and farmlands covered in mango trees, cloves and other spices.

Pristine islets, coral reefs of the Pemba Channel and the Ngezi Forest UNESCO World Heritage site are some of the key things which attract us to Pemba island. The snorkelling can be very good here whilst divers can experience some wonderful coral reef diving on steep walls covered in Acropora plate corals and bommie heads. Colourful reef fish, rays, cuttle fish, leaf fish and garden eels all find a home here. Dolphins are a regular sight above water and small sailing dhows plying the coast add to the rural colours you will find on the island of Pemba.

Mafia Island is worthwhile coastal alternative for this trip.  Mafia Island has a well established Marine Park for which WWF has been instrumental in preserving the islands prolific fish life, coral reefs, whale sharks and mangroves. Chole Bay on the eastern side of the island has some very well preserved coral reefs and some large schools of large fish. Whilst visibility at Mafia is usually less than the islands further north, you are likely to come eye ball to eye ball with more fish here fish life.

In Mafia we take you snorkelling or diving from a traditional sailing dhow, and visit the villages, mangroves, German military ruins and wooden boat building on Chole Island. For stays between October and March we also set aside a day to head to the west coast in search of whale sharks which are often seen over a shallow sand bank close to the shore.

 

Click Here for further information about the Ngezi-Vumavimbi Nature Forest Reserve.

 

Photographs kindly provided by Ralph Pannell, Charlotte Caffrey, Guido Cozzi, Javed Jafferji, Selous S.C, Michael Poliza, Ranjit Sondhi, Hal Thompson, Craig Zendel