The real adventure

Mbamba Bay Beach Train ticket Dar Es Salaam Station Isimila Stone Age Elephants of Ruaha Lions in Ruaha Mbamba Bay Panorama from Mbinga Mbamba Bay Mbamba Bay Beach

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 waking up at dawn and having breakfast, you will leave to explore other areas of the park.
Ruaha National Park extends in the south-central part of the country and is considered an unspoiled ecosystem. With its 13,000 square kilometres, it is the third largest nature reserve in the country and yet one of the lesser known areas in Tanzania.
Ruaha safaris offer intense experiences. About 1,600 plant species grow here, which is significantly more than in other parks. The landscape and vegetation are different. Giant baobabs and acacias embrace mountainous, hilly and flat landscapes, crossed by different rivers (Mwagusi, Mdonya, Jongomero, Great Ruaha).
The Ruaha is known for its large concentration of lions, with herds of up to 20 individuals. It is also known for cheetah populations and has the third largest African wild dog population in the world. Elephant density is very high during the dry season.
It can be fully stated that the park is one of the largest bird havens, with over 570 species, including the unique and endemic Ruaha red-billed hornbill.
A wide range of reptiles and amphibians live here, such as venomous and non-venomous snakes, monitor lizards, crocodiles, agama lizards and frogs, which you may safely see from the car.
As you travel among planes and hills you may spot animals before your guide shows them to you.
In the darkness of the night you can admire the sky which is full of stars as only in the real tropical lands.
You will appreciate the "silence" of nature and full contact with the natural elements. Enrich your collection with breath-taking views that will forever remain in your eyes and hearts.
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:
IFUNDA > NJOMBE 3 hr 3 min (186.6 km)
In total relax, you will leave in the morning towards Njombe.
The views make the route immensely interesting. Njombe is the capital of the region and one of the most important agricultural centres in the area. Populated by the Bena tribe. It is a simple place but which offers fascinating viewpoints It is normally known as one of the coldest cities in Tanzania.
You can decide to go for a nice walk to visit the Ruhudji Falls, which are located near your hotel, then you can go to the discovery of the city.
Pernotto – Colazione: Hillside Hotel

Day 8:
NJOMBE > MBAMBA BAY - 6 h 09 min (392 km)
After a good breakfast, set off again for your destination.
You will pass through Songea, a city located at 1000 meters above sea level, which extends in a chaotic way but which, as a whole, is an extremely relaxing place.
Inhabited by the Ngoni tribe, it is surrounded by hills full of sunflowers and pastures.
Reach Mbinga with its coffee plantations and, in season, you can stop to see the processing and shipping process of these fine beans.
You will arrive in Mbamba Bay in time to enjoy a fantastic sunset over the lake and immediately enter in a still genuine, wonderful and extremely simple Africa.
The hostel run by the nuns is very simple but also very clean. The sisters, still not so much used to dealing with foreign tourists, will go out of their way to offer you their sincere and simple hospitality.
The rooms are small and sparsely furnished but with a comfortable bed, a working mosquito net and impeccable cleanliness but above all with a fantastic view.
Pernotto – Colazione: Sister Bernadeta Hostel

Day 9:
MBAMBA BAY
The guide will take you to visit deserted beaches where you can enjoy the relaxing day on the warm sand.
Lake Malawi is also known as Lake Nyasa or Niassa and is the fifth largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, the ninth largest and is also the second deepest lake in Africa. It hosts a great variety of birds, including the fish eagle.
Residents of the three neighboring nations (Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania) have found their source of food in the lake thanks to the many varieties of fish that live there.
Some fish species are endemic to the lake and can only be seen here.
You can decide whether to have a lunch prepared to take with you or if you want to go back to the convent to have lunch at your leisure.
Pernotto – Colazione: Sister Bernadeta Hostel

Day 10:
MBAMBA BAY
You can decide to visit another deserted beach, take the boat and take a tour of the opposite small little island.
You will have the opportunity to see the local fish market with all the DAGAR, small freshwater sardines, that are exposed to the sun to dry.
You can arrange with the nuns whether to bring lunch or eat in some local hotel.
Pernotto – Colazione: Sister Bernadeta Hostel

Day 11:
MBAMBA BAY > MAKAMBAKO - 7 h 03 min (452 km)
After breakfast you will leave to make the way back. You can have a good coffee in the Mbinga coffee shop and then continue to Njombe.
Based on the time of departure, you will decide whether to stop in Songea for lunch, or continue the road to your destination and then have an early dinner and retire.
You will continue to Makambako from where you will board the train that leaves from Mbeya and which often comes from Zambia to return to DAR es Salaam.
Pernotto Treno

Day 12:
DAR- 24 h (632 km)
You will make the first part of the journey during the night but already at dawn you will find yourself immersed in fairy-tale views.
The sleeper in the train is all at your disposal. The bathrooms are always very clean even if sometimes the train, like almost all trains, is a bit poorly maintained. Although the official stops are not more than 5, you will find yourself stopping every 30 minutes. From the window you can buy bananas, biscuits, chickens, hard-boiled eggs… much more than your imagination leads you to think. The wagon will still be quiet and, apart from a little local music, simply looking out will make you discover an Africa completely different from the one you had imagined.
You will have something to munch with you, but you may also want to venture into the dining car or have some local food, which is always very fresh and freshly cooked, brought to you.
You will cross the Selous in broad daylight and with a little luck you may even spot some animals intrigued by the passage of the train.
Upon your arrival in DAR a guide will wait for you at the station to take you to your hotel where you can rest without the rocking of the train
Pernotto – Colazione: Kipepeo (o simile)

Day 13:
DAR AIRPORT
According to your schedule, you will be accompanied to the airport or port of DAR to continue your journey or return home.

Price includes

All transfers indicated in the program (except air)
All park entrances and guide fees
Governmental concessions and complete safari package
All meals indicated in the program L = Lunch, D = Dinner, BB = Breakfast and Overnight

Price does not include

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

Itinerary

Accommodations provided in each place