Enjoying the South

Ruaha and the South Ruaha National Park Iringa Masai Market Kalenga Musuem Iringa View Isimila Stone Age

Description

Program

Day 1:

DAR > KIBAHA - 1 h 40 min (42,0 km)
Arrival at Nyerere International Airport, where you will meet you guide who is there to assist you with the last formalities and to escort you to your hotel. You can finally rest after the long journey.
Accommodation with Dinner and Breakfast: Mapeni lodge

Day 2:

KIBAHA > IRINGA - 7 h 40 min (495,0 km)
At dawn, after breakfast, you will depart towards Iringa. You will pass through the Mikumi National Park, where you can see many species of animals along the road and, if you are lucky, you may be forced to give precedence to a herd of Elephants or a pride of lions crossing the road.
Along the way, you will stop for a quick lunch and then continue to reach Iringa driving across multicolour amazing landscapes.
Arriving int he afternoon you may want to go and explore the town or you may just rest and be ready for the following day.
Would you wish to have a sundowner, you can enjoy an amazing view of Iringa from Gangilonga Rock and the nearby bars.
Accommodation -Lunch and Breakfast: Mama Iringa (or similar)

Day 3:

IRINGA > RUAHA NATIONAL PARK - 2 h 50 min (136 km) After breakfast, you will start your journey toward the Ruaha National Park. If you are interested in learning more about the history of the Hehe tribe and its leader Mkwawa, ask the guide to let you visit the Kalenga Museum that you will find on your way. Although the structure would need careful maintenance, it houses a number of interesting findings and anecdotes about the Chief Tribe, who is famous for the strenuous resistance he opposed to the German invaders. Colonel Freiherr Friedrich von Schele managed to conquer the fortress of Mkawawa, located in the village of Kalenga, only on October 28, 1894 and then he had to wait until the month of July 1898 to definitively eradicate the bloody guerrilla organized by the heroic leader. The Chief preferred to commit suicide, rather than fall prisoner of his enemy. At the entrance of the park you will complete the formalities relating to entrance permits and then you will immerse yourself in an enchanted panorama. The guide of the lodge, who is waiting for you on board a safari vehicle, will accompany you to the camp. You will find yourself surrounded by a natural and uncontaminated habitat populated by wild animals: Elephants, Giraffes, Lions, Leopards, Hippos, Antelopes, and many others no less amazing than their older brothers, including thousands of bird species. The camp staff is waiting for you to give you a warm welcome and all kinds of information necessary to make you appreciate this exciting experience and to experience it in complete safety. If conditions allow, you will also have the opportunity to enjoy a fantastic dinner under the stars.
Accommodation - Lunch Dinner and Breakfast: Mwagusi Safari Camp (or similar)

Day 4:

RUAHA NATIONAL PARK After the alarm clock rings at dawn and after breakfast, you will leave to explore other areas of the park. You will appreciate the "silence" of nature and the full contact with the natural elements. You will drive along dusty paths, trying to see the animals before the guide shows them to you. You will enrich your collection of breath-taking panoramas that will remain forever in your eyes and heart. In the most natural darkness of the night you can admire a starry sky that only tropical areas are able to display Accommodation - Lunch Dinner and Breakfast: Mwagusi Safari Camp (or similar)

Day 5:

RUAHA NATIONAL PARK > IRINGA - 2 h 50 min (136 km) With a little regret, you will depart after breakfast to leave the park. During the safari you will have the opportunity to meet those animals that you have not yet seen. You will enjoy the last glimpses of the bush before leaving at the same time you entered.
You may want to dedicate the afternoon to do some shopping in Iringa or continue to a very cosy farm where you will be warmly welcomed.
Accommodation - Lunch Dinner and Breakfast: Kisolanza Old Farmhouse

Day 6:

KISOLANZA
Enjoy a lazy morning walking around the farm, letting you be pampered by a massage or just relax in the wonderful garden.
After lunch, if you are interested, you could go to Isimila Stone Age and visit an area where some archaeologists brought to light, in the late 1950s, very significant findings dating back to the Stone Age. Among these, worth to be mentioned are the bones of extinct mammals, such as an ancestor of the current hippopotamus or a giraffe with a much shorter neck than the current one. As confirmed by the tools found, this area was a hunting area for hominids who lived between 300,000 and 600,000 years ago. The study of the conformation of the site, allows to get a fairly precise idea of what the area was like before erosion originated the current large canyons, where the hardest rocks, resisting over time, formed pillars that are even 30m tall.
Accommodation - Lunch Dinner and Breakfast: Kisolanza Old Farmhouse

Day 7:

IRINGA AIRPORT
According to your flight shedule you will be driven to Iringa airport, where you will continue to DAR ES SALAAM and to your next destination.

Price includes

All transfers indicated in the program All park entrances and governmental concessions The complete safari package All meals indicated in the program L = Lunch, D = Dinner, BB = Breakfast and Overnight Taxes and VAT

Price does not include

International flights Internal flights Gratuities Drinks Meals not listed in the program Personal expenses

Itinerary

Accommodations provided in each place