Udzungwa Mountains National Park

Udzungwa Mountains National Park Brooding and primeval, the forests of Udzungwa seam positively enchanted: a verdant refuge of sunshine-dappled glades enclosed by 30-metre high trees, their buttresses layered with fungi, lichens, mosses and ferns. Size: 1,990 sq km. Location: Five hours (350km) from Dar es Salaam; 65 km southwest of Mikumi. Getting there: Drive from Dar es Salaam…

Mikumi National Park

Mikumi National Park Swirls of opaque mist hide advancing down. The first shafts of sun colour the fluffy grass heads rippling across the plain in a russet halo. A heard of zebras, confident in their camouflage at this predatory hour, pose like ballerinas, heads aligned and stripes merging in flowing motion. Size: 3,230 sq km Location: 238…

Katavi National Park

Katavi National Park. Isolated, untrammeled and seldom visited, Katavi is a true wilderness, providing the few intrepid souls who make it there with a thrilling taste of Africa as it must have been a century ago. Tanzania’s third largest national park, it lies in the remote southwest of the country, within a truncated arm of…

Ruaha National Park

Ruaha National Park. The game viewing starts the moment the plane touches down. A giraffe races beside the airstrip, all legs and neck, yet oddly elegant in its awkwardness. A line of zebras parades across the runway in the giraffe’s wake. In the distance, beneath a bulbous baobab tree, a few representatives of Ruaha’s 10,000…