Exploring southern Tanzania

This is Africa’s largest protected area of land named after Frederick Courteney Selous, the nineteenth century hunter and adventurer. Your family can follow his example (minus the hunting bit) canoeing rivers, camping out in elephant country and tracking lion on foot. Sand Rivers Lodge beside the Great Rufiji River and Beho Beho up in the cooler hills are our favourite hideaways. They are both among the best lodges in East Africa, long established with superb guides and a base for memorable safari adventures.

Ruaha sits on the convergence zone where East African and Southern African bird and mammal species meet. This means that it has an incredible variety of mammals and 530 bird species. It has an enormous lion population as well as wild dog cheetah and leopard. We know some superb little camps like Kichaka which takes only 8 guests on superbly guided walking safaris. Ruaha is 50% bigger than the Serengeti with 10% of the tourists. It embraces mountains, savannahs, rich forests and major rivers.

Mahale is unlike anywhere else in Africa! Steep sided mountains clothed in rainforest run down to the awesomely deep Lake Tanganyika. On the beach where the mountains meet the lake is Greystoke Mahale Lodge. You arrive by light aircraft and river dhow and spend your days wandering the mountains encountering habituated families of chimpanzee. There are countless birds and seven other species of primate. In the afternoon dive off a dhow into the clear waters of the lake and swim to your heart’s content.

The light aircraft that takes you to Mahale also calls in at Katavi and these contrasting places combine perfectly for a week’s safari. Four great floodplains are the setting for rising degrees of animal mayhem as the dry season advances from June to late October. Immense herds of buffalo and elephant, antelope and plains game gather as rivers diminish to pools. Noisy commotions break out as tempers fray among the hippo community. Lurking crocodiles and greedy prides of lion complete the picture. And with just a handful of tiny camps you have the place pretty well to yourselves.