Southern Circuit
Fewer vehicles, wider horizons. Departing from our base in Mikumi, Morogoro, the southern circuit trades the crowds of the north for vast wilderness, river-based safaris, and mountain rainforest — all still an easy drive or short flight from Dar es Salaam.
Gateway Park
Morogoro Region, our home base
Mikumi is Tanzania's fourth-largest national park and, for us, the closest thing to a backyard — our office sits right at its gate. The open Mkata floodplain at its centre is often compared to a miniature Serengeti, with grassland stretching to the Uluguru and Rubeho mountain ranges on either side.
Because it's just a few hours from Dar es Salaam by road, Mikumi is the most accessible big-game park on the southern circuit, making it a natural starting or closing point for a longer southern route, or a rewarding short break on its own.
Terrain is dominated by the flat Mkata floodplain, giving open, uninterrupted sightlines for game viewing, with denser woodland and rocky hills toward the park's edges.
Camps and lodges sit just outside the park gate, so early-morning and late-afternoon drives are only minutes from where you sleep.
A section of the Tanzania–Zambia highway runs through the park, so watch for wildlife crossing even on the drive in.
Wild & Vast
South of Mikumi, along the Rufiji River
Carved out of the former Selous Game Reserve and renamed after Tanzania's first president, Nyerere is Africa's largest national park — a wilderness so vast it holds some of the continent's last significant populations of African wild dog. The Rufiji River and its network of lakes and channels cut through the park, opening up activities you won't find on the northern circuit.
Because visitor numbers are low relative to the park's size, game drives here rarely mean queuing at a sighting — it's a genuinely different pace of safari from the Serengeti or Ngorongoro.
Landscape ranges from open grassland and miombo woodland to the riverine forest lining the Rufiji, with the river itself the defining feature of any visit.
One of the few parks in Tanzania where boat safaris are a standard activity — a good way to see hippo, crocodile, and riverine birdlife up close.
Nyerere is a serious commitment of distance and time — pair it with Mikumi rather than attempting it as a single-day add-on.
Rainforest
Eastern Arc Mountains, west of Mikumi
Part of the Eastern Arc range, sometimes called the "Galápagos of Africa" for the number of species found nowhere else on Earth. Unlike the open savannah parks nearby, Udzungwa is dense montane rainforest, with no roads inside the park boundary — every visit here is on foot.
The park is home to the endemic Sanje mangabey and Iringa red colobus, along with a network of trails leading to waterfalls, including the multi-tiered Sanje Falls, one of the tallest in Tanzania.
The forest canopy and steep, forested slopes create a cooler, wetter climate than the surrounding lowlands, with the terrain shifting from lowland forest to montane forest as trails climb.
No game drives here — this is a walking-only park, usually paired as a one- or two-day add-on to a Mikumi safari.
The Sanje Falls trail is a full-day hike — bring proper footwear, as the paths are steep and can be slick after rain.
Africa Adventure — Southern Circuit Specialists
Based in Mikumi, Morogoro, Gilbays Safaris runs daily departures into Mikumi National Park alongside safaris and tours across Tanzania — from game drives to Maasai cultural excursions.
