Welcome to Tanzania
Wild West | Chimp Island | Secluded South | Indian Ocean
While Tanzania is a highly popular tourist destination, there is still an exciting array of remote diverse, exciting and pure areas to gently explore, at nature's own pace.
Wild West - Chimpanzees & the Beast of Africa
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In Mahale Mountains National Park lies the ultimate chimpanzee experience from Africa’s most iconic castaway lodge, Greystoke, thanks to our expert suppliers, NomadTanzania.
The main reason for making the journey down to Mahale is, of course, chimpanzee trekking with guides who are renowned for their life-long experience & chimpanzee knowledge. However...the forests of Mahale are teeming with a variety of other primates e.g. colobus monkeys & baboons, and also plays host to warthogs and the rare blue duiker, along with much more incredible forest flora and bird life. Oh, and the lake...Lake Tanganyika is the second deepest lake in the world.
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In Chada Katavi National Park Little has changed since people first arrived there all those years ago. This is a true wilderness which is all about enjoying being out on safari without the crowds, in fact often without any company at all.
Katavi really is one of the final frontiers, known for hundreds of hippo gathering in limited water sources in the dry season, and aestivating crocodiles in river bank caves.
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Mahale & Katavi are spectacularly remote and well over 500kms from Arusha which makes access challenging. In order to minimise costs and make the camps more accessible, a subsidised shared charter flight is in operation from Arusha to Western Tanzania for guests staying at Chada Katavi and/or Greystoke Mahale. There is no fee for flights betwen Chada Katavi and Greystoke Mahale, making them a perfect combination for a wild week in Western Tanzania.
Chimp Island - Island National Park
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A fascinating island national park within the Lake Victoria, that is home to chimpanzees who were released from captivity decades ago and are now living completely wild, with their wild born offspring.
The chimpanzees are not fully habituated, this is in progress, but you can accompany researchers and guides on their daily chimp follows to explore the forest, learn to to track chimps, and with a little luck...see the chimpanzees during one of their more restful phases; they can move a quite a pace!.
One of only two island national parks in Tanzania, Rubondo is the largest of the two, and is also home to elephants, giraffe, renowned birdlife, award winning fishing, and much much more to discover.
Rubondo island is completely uninhabited by humans and has just one tourist lodge...Rubondo Chimp Camp. So, guests here can enjoy pure and remote exclusivity.
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Secluded South & Indian Ocean
Southern Tanzania has a lot less camps and lodges than much of the north, making it much wilder and more adventurous to navigate.
We are proud to be part of 3 exceptional areas that give you the luxury of indulging in the exquisite charm of Tanzania while avoiding the crowds. Lose yourself to feeling the bespoke exclusivity that we are known for providing.
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Eastern savanna settings in Tanzania's newest national park: Nyerere, at the northern end of the huge Selous Game reserve. The new park is a designated photographer's area, divided from the rest of the reserve by the mighty Rufiji River.
Across to the west are far away parts of Ruaha National Park; described as where 2 biomes meet to offer the feeling of combined landscapes: east & south Africa. For a beach retreat to compliment your safari, there is Fanjove island which is one of the 6 small "Robinson Crusoe" islands in the Songo Songo Archipelago, rich with marine life and a gloriously showcasing conservation.
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An exceptional collection of properties in the tranquil surrounds of Southern Tanzania, managed by one of the oldest and best established safari experts who have been operating in the area for 32 years!
Mahale Mountains National Park
Mahale Mountains National Park lies on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Kigoma Region, Tanzania.
Named after the Mahale Mountains range that is within its borders.
It is one of only two protected areas for chimpanzees in the country. (The other is nearby Gombe Stream National Park.) The chimpanzee population in Mahale Mountains National Park is the largest known and due to its size and remoteness, the chimpanzees flourish.
It also the only place where chimpanzees and lions co-exist.
Another unusual feature of the park is that it is one of the very few in Africa that must be experienced by foot. There are no roads or other infrastructure within the park boundaries, and the only way in and out of the park is via boat on the lake.
The Mimikere (M) Group chimpanzee community in the Mahale Mountains covers a home range of around 15 square miles and are the closest neighbours of Greystoke Mahale
A team of Japanese researchers have worked in these mountains studying the chimps for over 50 years, and Greystoke guides and their families have played a part in their work for decades.
There is no one else you should meet these chimps with - take our word for it.
Katavi National Park
Katavi National Park is a Tanzanian national park created in 1974 and is located in Katavi Region, Tanzania. It is a very remote park that is less frequently visited than other Tanzanian national parks. The park is the third largest national park in Tanzania. Kativi encompasses the seasonal Lake Chada floodplains.
Katavi has fewer human visitors and jeeps conducting game drives than other Tanzanian parks.
Scenery in the Park varies from seasonally inundated grassland plains in the shallow basins to the steep escarpments of the rift valley.
The Park offers wildlife in abundance and it has one of Tanzania’s greatest concentrations of buffalo, elephants and hippotamus.
Survival here depends on fragile seasonal rivers, the Katuma, the Kavu and the Kapapa. Between the rivers, huge herds of buffalo and other herbivores concentrate for the rich grass of four great floodplains, including (one in the camp's backyard) Chada.
As months wear on, the grass dries gold and withers. By the end of the dry season, it’s all going a bit mad. As water becomes limited, so animals are drawn to the riverbanks. Hippopotamus in their thousands cram dwindling pools, crocodiles dig riverbank caves. Buffalo and elephant compete for waterholes. Lion, hyenas and other predators know this and wildlife watching here becomes even more outstanding.
Rubondo Island National Park
The park is a haven for chimpanzees — introduced as part of a groundbreaking rehabilitation project in the 1960s — as well as elephants, giraffes, hippos and shy sitatunga antelopes.
The pristine Rubondo Island is 75 percent forest, which guests can explore on drives and walks while learning about the animals and plants that make up this extraordinary protected ecosystem.
Rubondo Island lies in the south west of Lake Victoria, the world's second-largest lake, an inland sea sprawling between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Sheltering nine smaller islands, Rubondo protects precious fish breeding grounds and is home to some of the world’s largest Nile Perch and Tilapia, making it one of East Africa’s finest fresh water fishing destinations.
Chimpanzee habituation experience on Rubondo Island National Park:
Have a once-in-a-lifetime experience helping habituate the island’s chimpanzee population. As you walk through the forest tracking their progress with a knowledgeable guide, you’ll likely hear them calling to each other and they’ll hear you. The more they grow accustomed to the presence of humans, the easier it will be for researchers to spend time studying them.
Nyerere National Park
in Selous Game Reserve
Nyerere is Africa's largest national park!
Set within the Selous Game Reserve, a UNESCO world heritage site that is 54,600 square kilometers (bigger than Switzerland!) comprised of a vast wilderness with forests, grassy plains, mountains and open woodlands.
Selous Game reserve is twice the size of Serengeti National Park in Kenya and three times Kruger National Park in South Africa.
The reserve is split into 2 sections: the northern half which is now a national park and dedicated photographer's area, and the southern half which has hunting concessions. We only offer trips to the northern (national park) where there is no hunting. See Wild Travels does not promote any type of hunting trips.
The two halves of the reserve are separated by the Rufuji river and we know the perfect game viewing spots in the National park that are lost within its expansiveness, on the shores of lake Nserakera.
Nyerere National Park, Selous boasts many primates: vervets, baboons, Sykes Monkey and Colobus.
Larger game: Elephants, buffalos, Lions, wildebeests, large hands of giraffes, zebras, hippos, impalas, large numbers of Lichtenstein’s hartebeests, waterbucks, & elands and bushbucks, in addition to leopards, crocodiles and hyenas, hard to find puku antelopes, African wild dogs and sable antelope.
Some of the last remaining black rhinos in Tanzania can be found here, too.
Nyerere is also home to over 440 different birds species.
Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park is 20,226 km2 (7,809 sq mi), making it the largest protected area in Tanzania and East Africa.
Ruaha is part of an extensive ecosystem, including Rungwa Game Reserve, Usangu Game Reserve, and several other protected areas.
The name of the park is derived from the Great Ruaha River, which brings superb game viewing.
There is a bimodal pattern of rain forest; the short rainfall season begins November to February, while the long season is between March and April. The park experiences its dry season between June and October.
We offer idyllic exclusivity to explore these varying landscapes, 60 kms away from all other camps.
​The name Ruaha was derived from the hehe word called ''Luhava'' meaning the great river.
Ruaha National Park is a paradise for birds, with more than 571 species, some are known to be migrants from within and outside Africa.
Elephants are another of Ruaha's highlights, where it is believed to have the highest concentration of them than any National Park in East Africa. It is also a place where, magnificent mammals like Kudu, Sable and Roan antelopes can easily be spotted in Miombo woodland. Other animals in the park include lions, leopards, cheetah, giraffes, zebras, elands, impala, bat eared foxes and Jackals, and wild dogs.
This is the place where visitors can see both Lesser and Greater Kudu because it is the southernmost limit for Lesser Kudu in African continent.
Apart from large animals, the park also harbours a number of reptiles and amphibians such as crocodiles, poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, monitor lizards, agama lizards and frogs
Songo Songo Archipelago
Accessible by air in 1 hour from Dar es Salaam. Songo Songo Archipelago has one main island ( Songo Songo Island) that is home to just 3,500 locals, and 6 small, uninhabited, islands. Coconut palms, low shrub vegetation, lots of birds, and palm-fringed, powder-white sands; azure, shimmering waters, This archipelago is in true Robinson Crusoe style!
45 minute sailing from Songo Songo main island brings you to our perfectly secluded private island, Fanjove. No inhabitants, just 6 guest beach houses, nature, and ocean.
The Songo Songo archipelago is an ecologically important area for nesting sea turtles and marine birds. Surrounding waters host an impressive collection of hard and soft corals. The archipelago, together with the nearby Rufiji River delta, the Mafia archipelago and the coastline around Kilwa Masoko have been declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.
Here you will also find alarmingly huge Coconut crabs.
Destinations in Tanzania
Chimpanzee Explorations, Unrivalled Remoteness, and Luxury Bush & Beach Safaris
