Southern TanzaniaSeptember 16 – October 2, 2020

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Photos: (Cover) Chimpanzee, Hippos, Greystoke Mahale

Southern Tanzania traditionally receives less publicity than the more

famous Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, but its staggering biodiversity,

scenic variety and untrammeled feel have seen it emerge as a firm favorite

among discerning wildlife lovers. The region’s game-viewing showpiece is

the 21,000-square-mile Selous Game Reserve, a vast tract of wilderness that

supports the world’s largest surviving populations of Lion, Buffalo, Hippo

and Sable Antelope. Other highlights include the baobab-studded woodland

and rugged slopes of Ruaha National Park, the teeming seasonal floodplains

of Katavi National Park, and the superb Chimpanzee-tracking of Mahale

Mountains National Park, the latter set on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Leave the crowds behind, and join Apex on an expertly-guided journey that

flies between all four of these iconic wildlife destinations, exploring them at

a sufficiently relaxed pace to appreciate all they have to offer.

Expedition Over view

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Wednesday, September 16: Arrive Dar es Salaam Arrive today in Tanzania’s commercial hub, the historic Indian Ocean harbor city of Dar es Salaam. Transfer to the central Kivukoni neighborhood, with its beautiful Bavarian-style 19th-century Lutheran Church and bustling Swahili waterfront. Enjoy a welcome dinner with your fellow travelers and overnight at the Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam.

Thursday, September 17: Selous Game Reserve Transfer back to the airport for a short morning flight to Selous Game Reserve—a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your base in the Selous is Sand Rivers Lodge, which enjoys a privileged position above a wide, sandy bend in Tanzania’s largest river: the hypnotic Rufiji. This vast conservation area is one of the few in Africa that can be explored on a combination of guided hikes, motorboat trips and games drives, and a four-night stay allows an afternoon and three full days to make the most of these options. Dinner and overnight at Sand Rivers Selous.

Friday–Sunday, September 18–20: Selous Game Reserve The sluggish, palm-lined Rufiji is the archetypal African waterway, best explored by boat. Pass sandbanks lined with gape-jawed Nile Crocodiles, shallows teeming with grunting Hippos, and lush islands massed with thirsty African Elephant herds, before heading into the spectacular 350-foot-deep Stiegler’s Gorge with its acrobatic troops of Angola Colobus. The river is a showcase for the Selous’s fabulous birdlife: waders and shorebirds, such as Yellow-billed Stork and White-crowned Plover, pairs of African Fish-Eagle and Palmnut Vulture perched photogenically on Borassus palms, dazzling seasonal breeding colonies of Northern Carmine and White-fronted Bee-eaters, and the lovely Trumpeter Hornbill and Purple-crested Turaco in the riparian woodland.

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Photos: Rufiji River, Nile Crocodile and Yellow-billed Stork, Angola Colobus

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Tear yourself away from the river, and the surrounding woodland, interwoven with a network of beautiful lakes, supports healthy numbers of Masai Giraffe, Plains Zebra, Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest, Impala, Warthog and various other ungulates, as well as a small population of the elusive Black Rhinoceros. Game drives come with a decent chance of spotting the endangered African Wild Dog (25 percent of the world’s free-ranging population is centered on the Selous), as well as experiencing diurnal Lion kills towards the end of the dry season, when prides congregate around the lakes waiting to pounce on any grazer unfortunate enough to pass within range. Guided walks focus more on the ‘small stuff’—birds, insects, and reptiles—but also provide a good chance of close-up game encounters. Dinners and overnights at Sand Rivers Selous. Monday, September 21: Ruaha National Park After breakfast, transfer to the Sand Rivers airstrip for a flight northwest to Tanzania’s largest and wildest national park. A favorite with seasoned safari-goers, the 7,800-square-mile Ruaha protects a rugged thirstland of boulder-strewn ridges, dense Miombo woodland and semi-arid plains studded with the bulbous silhouettes of ancient baobabs. Upon landing at Ruaha, enjoy a short game drive en route to Kigelia Ruaha, a small secluded camp named after, and shaded by, the lush sausage trees, Kigelia africana, that dominate the riparian woodland along the seasonal Ifuguru River. After a relaxed lunch, wait for the afternoon heat to subside before an evening game drive. Dinner and overnight at Kigelia Ruaha.

Tuesday & Wednesday, September 22 & 23: Ruaha National Park Two days of game drives and guided walks reveal Ruaha’s exceptional biodiversity. This is elephant territory par excellence, with a population currently estimated at 15,000. Large family herds are frequently seen crossing the Great Ruaha River, a wildlife magnet that also provides refuge to plentiful Nile Crocodiles and Hippo pods as it flows along the park’s southeastern boundary for 100 miles. Ruaha is known for its unusually large Lion prides, often comprising 15 or more individuals, while Leopards are frequently observed climbing baobab trees or sunning on rocks, and Cheetahs stalk the grassland plains dubbed the Little Serengeti.

Because it is transitional to the southern Miombo woodland and northern Acacia savanna, Ruaha supports an unusually diverse ungulate fauna. In addition to the widespread Impala, Defassa Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Buffalo, Plains Zebra and Masai Giraffe, this is the most southerly haunt of Grant’s Gazelle and Lesser Kudu, and also home to the splendid twisty-horned Greater Kudu and more elusive Roan and Sable Antelopes, species seldom encountered in northern Tanzania. A bird list of almost 600 species includes several national endemics—Black-collared Lovebird, Ashy Starling, Ruaha Hornbill and Ruaha Chat—along with the most northerly population of the colorful Crested Barbet, whose loud sustained trill is one of the park’s characteristic sounds. Dinners and overnights at Kigelia Ruaha Camp.

Thursday, September 24: Katavi National Park Transfer to the airstrip for a flight west to remote Katavi, Tanzania’s third-largest national park, and a shoo-in contender for the accolade of East Africa’s best-kept game-viewing secret. A classic dry-season destination, Katavi is practically inaccessible during the rains, but as its seasonal swamps subside, it offers superb wildlife watching on wide, grassy floodplains meandered through by the life-sustaining Katuma and Kapapa rivers. Your base here is Chada Katavi, an unfenced tented camp set in a bird-rich Acacia glade that overlooks the Chada

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Photos: Lion Cubs, Baobab Tree, African Elephants, Lesser Kudu

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floodplain and comes alive at night with the thrilling calls of competing Lion prides and hyena packs. Dinner and overnight at Chada Katavi.

Friday–Sunday, September 25 – 27: Katavi National Park Game drives focus on the Chada floodplain, a wide-open vista where thousand-strong Buffalo herds are frequently seen in the same sweep of binoculars as smaller groups of elephant, Lion, Masai Giraffe, Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest, Topi, Impala, Bohor Reedbuck and Defassa Waterbuck. The dense surrounding Miombo woodland is often slower going, but offers a chance of Leopard, Common Eland, Sable and Roan Antelope. A mammalian highlight is the dry-season concentrations of several thousand Hippos that amass in a series of muddy spring-fed pools below Ikuu Ranger Post, lying cheek-to-jowl with some hefty Nile Crocodiles. Large, water-associated birds are well represented—Yellow-billed and Saddle-billed Storks, Pink-backed Pelican and numerous herons, egrets and waders—while flocks of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse chuckle as they come to drink at the rivers at dawn and dusk. Dinner and overnight at Chada Katavi.

Monday, September 28: Mahale Mountains National Park Enjoy one last morning game drive before transferring to the airstrip for a flight to Africa’s premier Chimpanzee-tracking destination: Mahale Mountains National Park. A complete change of scene from Katavi, Mahale has a magical setting of soft, sandy, jungle-lined beaches lapped by the near-transparent waters of Lake Tanganyika. After landing at the airstrip, a traditional sailing dhow takes you to your lodge, the stunning lakeshore Greystoke Mahale. Dinner and overnight at Greystoke Mahale.

Tuesday & Wednesday, September 29 & 30: Mahale Mountains Tracking Chimpanzees—humanity’s closest living genetic allies—is the main activity in Mahale. The forests here support a healthy population of 1,000 wild Eastern Chimpanzees, including the 60-strong Mimikere Community, which was first habituated by Japanese researchers in the 1960s, now providing visitors the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk in the midst of these intelligent, sociable and thoroughly fascinating creatures. No less than eight smaller primate species have also been recorded, with Yellow Baboon, Ashy Red Colobus, and Blue, Red-tailed and Vervet Monkeys frequently encountered close to camp. Superb all-round birding is boosted by several charismatic forest species—among them Ross’s Turaco, Trumpeter Hornbill, Crested Malimbe, Bamboo Warbler, and the globally-threatened Kungwe Apalis. Between walks, take a refreshing dip or snorkel in Lake Tanganyika, which stands at an altitude of 2,536 feet on the Rift Valley floor below the jungle-clad slopes and wild crags of an 8,070-foot escarpment. Home to more than 500 fish species, this magnificently scenic inland sea ranks as the world’s longest and second-deepest freshwater body, and it is also credibly claimed to be the least polluted lake on the planet. Enjoy sundowners on the beach, and dinners and overnights at the stunning Greystoke Mahale.

Thursday, October 1: Mahale / Dar es Salaam After breakfast, transfer to the airstrip for your flight to Dar es Salaam. Upon arrival, transfer to the Hyatt Regency Dar es Salaam for dinner and overnight.

Friday, October 2: Dar es Salaam After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your international flights home.

Market at Merkato

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Photos: Leopard, Cape Buffalo Herd, Vervet Monkey, Chimpanzee

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A – Dar es Salaam

B – Selous Game Reser ve

C – Ruaha National Park

D – Katavi National Park

E – Mahale Mountains National Park

By Air

Expedition Map – Southern Tanzania

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Liam RainierLiam grew up in a family that took every chance to explore nature and get away from the bustling city of Pretoria where he grew up. His love for nature was instilled in him by his father’s same adoration, a continuous exposure to all types of wilderness. “It’s about something more than just what you see with your eyes—you have to feel and smell it. When you’re alone and in nature you are forced to use all your senses, not because you have the choice—it just happens.” Liam has spent the last decade in the Lowveld guiding from vehicle and from foot, he loves nothing more than to share his passion and enthusiasm for the animals and their behavior. His excitement and pure joy of witnessing a sighting, big or small, is contagious. Liam has a deep love for walking in any natural environment, whether it be tracking a leopard in the bushveld, trailing a breeding herd of elephants without them knowing you’re there, or listening to the bird calls in a forest canopy—there is just nothing that tickles the senses more.

Your Expedition Leader

“Liam’s knowledge and passion

was incredibly infectious and

made each drive even more

memorable—he even gave us

helpful photography tips! We

really can’t express how

impressed we were with him.”

– Daniel & Sarah J., United Kingdom

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Southern Tanzania September 16 – October 2, 2020$23,870 Per Person Rate

$29,870 Solo Rate

17 Days Trip Length

6 Guests Group Size

Dar es Salaam Start/End

Expedition Details

IncludedApex Expeditions’ rates include all accommodations; all meals, activities and excursions as described in the

itinerary; flights within Tanzania, as noted in the itinerary; services of an Apex Expeditions leader and local guides

throughout the itinerary; local beer & wines at lunch & dinner; all gratuities; airport transfers; permits and entrance

fees; all taxes.

Not IncludedCosts not included in the price of your Apex expedition include travel to and from the start and end point of trip;

premium brand drinks and liquor; travel insurance (Trip Cancellation and Interruption, as well as Emergency Medical

and Evacuation insurance, are highly recommended); airport departure taxes; equipment rental; excess baggage fees;

passport and/or visa fees; items of a personal nature (phone calls, laundry, souvenirs, etc.); and independent travel

arrangements pre- or post-trip.

Payments & Terms20% of the trip cost will confirm your place on the expedition. The final balance is due 150 days prior to departure.

All prices are quoted in U.S. dollars and must be paid in U.S. dollars. Per person pricing is based on double occupancy.

The solo rate is paid by participants who specifically request single accommodations and is subject to availability.

If you are traveling alone and wish to share accommodations, we will try to match you with a roommate of the same

gender. However, if a roommate is not available, the published solo rate will be charged. Upon confirming your

reservation you will be required to pay the published Solo Rate, if we are able to pair you with a roommate, the

applicable difference will be refunded at the time that the final trip payment is due for all participants. Please note that

solo accommodations are limited and cannot always be guaranteed throughout. For our full set of Terms & Conditions,

please visit our web site at www.apex-expeditions.com/about/terms-conditions/

One-of-a-kind adventures to the world’s most fascinating places. Join us.

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Southern Tanzania September 16 – October 2, 2020

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