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The national parks of Ruaha and Nyerere are the southern circuit’ s stars and have all the makings of a truly remote adventure. Vast Ruaha weaves together approximately 8,000 square miles of savanna with ancient baobab forests and sprawling wetlands. Off the beaten track, visitor numbers are a fraction of those seen in the north. Most of the park’ s accommodation is concentrated around the central Great Ruaha and Mwagusi rivers— the stomping ground of a sizable big cat population. Game drives come as part of the territory, while walking safaris— accompanied by an experienced guide and trained armed guard— are becoming increasingly popular.
Of all Tanzania’ s national parks, Ruaha is just second in size to 11,500-squaremile Nyerere( roughly the same size as Belgium). One of the country’ s newest national parks, it was formally designated in 2019, carved out from the former Selous Game Reserve. The area’ s southern reaches are given over to hunting concessions, but that’ s not the only reason to stay in its northern climes. The Rufiji River’ s
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meandering maze of channels flows here, drawing all walks of animal life, like the critically endangered black rhino.
Away from the northern and southern circuits, Tanzania’ s western national parks take wilderness up a notch again, being reachable only by boat or light aircraft. Hemming the eastern white-sand shores of Lake Tanganyika, Gombe Stream National Park’ s forests are where Dr. Jane Goodall arrived in 1960 to carry out her pioneering field research into chimpanzee behaviour. Alongside Mahale Mountains National Park to the south, it’ s one of the best places on the planet for chimpanzee trekking.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR SPECIES? Tanzania is home to some of the largest numbers of big cats on the planet. More lions are thought to live here than in any other African nation, with scientists estimating the Ruaha landscape alone holds just under one-tenth of all the lions remaining in sub- Saharan Africa. Lion density is at its highest in the Serengeti due to the abundance
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Clockwise from top left: A road runs underneath baobab trees in Tarangire; Cape buffalo, Ngorongoro Crater; Burchell’ s zebra, Serengeti National Park Previous pages: Wildebeest in the southern Serengeti during the Great Migration |
images: awl images |
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