17 Days Trip to Katavi National Park - 17 Days

17 Days
Dar-Selous-Mikumi-Ruaha-Mbeya-Kipili-Katavi-Mbeya-Iringa-Dar

Day 1:
Meet your driver guide on arrival and depart to Nyerere National Park (formely, Selous Game Reserve) with lunch boxes. Afternoon boat trip, check in at Rufiji River Camp on full board basis

Day 2:
After breakfast, set for full day game drive in the Reserve with picnic lunches. All meals and overnight at Rufiji River Camp.
Few other safaris in Tanzania evoke the romance, mystique and spiritual delight of the African bush as one in the Selous Game Reserve. Embracing 54,000 square km of south-western Tanzania, it is one of the largest protected wilderness reserve on the continent, three times larger than the Serengeti and twice the size of Belgium. Named after the legendary 19th century explorer and hunter Frederick Courtney Selous, the reserve was founded by the German colonial administration in 1905. It was later expanded to include traditional elephant migration routes and accommodate the vast herds of buffalo that roam this remote, untouched corner of Africa.

Day 3,
Early morning walk, breakfast and explore the Selous on a second Full Day Game Drive – the perfect opportunity to try to find any wildlife which wasn’t spotted on the previous day!. Dinner and overnight.

Day 4:
After breakfast proceed to Mikumi National Park with lunch boxes. Check-in at Vuma Hill Tented Camp on full board accommodation.

Day 5:
After breakfast proceed to Ruaha with lunch boxes to Ruaha National Park. Check-in at Ruaha River Lodge on full board accommodation.

Day 6-7:
Two full day game drives in the park with packed lunches. Dinner and overnight at Ruaha River Lodge.
Covering a conservation area of 10,300 square kilometers in the south-west of the country, Ruaha sprawls within and along the Great Rift Valley, covering a unique transition zone where the Eastern and Southern species of both fauna and flora meet against a dramatic topographical backdrop. This is also one of the few Tanzanian parks where sightings of the rarer antelope, such as the Sable, the Roan and both Lesser & Greater Kudu, are a probability rather than a possibility. The proliferation of plains game in the park also ensures that the larger predators - leopard and large prides of lion - are unusually active. The bird life, too, is unparalleled with some 530 species recorded.

Day 8:
After breakfast proceed to Mbeya with Lunch boxes, dinner and overnight Utengule Coffee Lodge.
Utengule Coffee Lodge offers guests an oasis of calm on the slopes of the mighty Mbeya range in Southern Tanzania, with spectacular views across the East African Rift Valley. In terraced gardens on an estate famous for its gourmet coffee, ‘The Lodge on the Coffee Estate’ has 16 rooms with en-suite facilities, the most luxurious have open glass frontages and large balconies overlooking the pool and the Rift Valley beyond.
Guests at the lodge can expect ‘a personal touch’ with home cooking using locally-grown ingredients and exceptional hospitality offered with a smile. You can swim, play squash or tennis, walk, take a guided trek, a tour of The Coffee Farm, read a book, or simply watch the variety of birdlife in the gardens and marvel at the gorgeous sunsets.
Day 9:
Morning proceed to Kipili with picnic lunch. Dinner and overnight at Lake Shore Lodge.
Lake Shore Lodge lies on the banks of this beautiful Lake with a 400m private beach looking onto the nearby islands. The lodge is run by owners, Chris and Louise and they live by their motto - "Come as Guests and leave as Friends".
Lake Tanganyika is situated in western Tanzania and boasts CRYSTAL CLEAR water, wild otter and more than 250 species of cichlid fish found no-where else on our planet. It is also the world's LONGEST Lake, the world's SECOND DEEPEST Lake and holds almost 18% of the world's fresh water. With breathtaking sunsets, starry skies and the friendliest people - this is a paradise not to be missed!
Lake Shore Lodge offers various adventure activities including diving, snorkeling, fishing, kayaking, quad biking, mountain biking, walks to one of the oldest churches in Tanzania, birding along the river and waterskiing. But this is also the perfect place to just relax in a hammock, watch the local fishermen and the slow changes of the Lake and do absolutely NOTHING!

Day 10-11:
Days at Leisure at Lake Shore Lodge on full board accommodation.

Day 12:
After breakfast proceed to Katavi National Park with lunch boxes and check-in at Katavi Wildlife Camp on full board accommodation.
Katavi wildlife camp is very exclusive and located in the best game area so that you can watch the daily movements of game between food and water and witness the dramas unfold before you. The tents, luxurious in size and furnishings, are cunningly set back in amongst the trees that line the floodplain, providing both shade and camouflage in the prime game viewing area of the park, where the wildlife are unaware of your presence.

Day 13-14:
Two days to explore Katavi Plain National Park. All meals and overnight at Katavi Wildlife Camp.
Katavi Plains Game Reserve was established in 1951 and given National Park status in 1974 by the government. The Park is one of the upcoming tourist attractions in Tanzania as it is an unspoiled wild park with unique attractions. Because of its remote location it receives few visitors and it’s the best for those tourists who love peace. Katavi is excellent for bird-watchers as it has over 400 species. You are also likely to see leopards, elephants, giraffes, lions, zebras and buffalos.


Day 15:
After breakfast drive to Mbeya and check-in at Utengule Coffee Lodge and full board accommodation.

Day 16:
After breakfast with picnic lunch drive to Iringa and check-in at Kisolanza Old Farm for dinner and overnight.

Day 17:
After breakfast drive back to Dar.