1 day Nyerere in a Day
Four hours out, a full day of game viewing, four hours back. Long in the vehicle, but it puts you inside Tanzania’s largest park without an overnight.
Wildlife
Nyerere & the Kilwa Ruins
Two days on the Rufiji, then south down the coast to the island city that ran the gold trade — the only route we run that pairs the two.
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At a glance
- Destinations
- Nyerere National Park · Rufiji River · Kilwa Masoko · Kilwa Kisiwani
- Best for
- Wildlife safari, Culture & history
- Travel style
- Mid-range · Drive, Ferry/boat
- Activity level
- Easy — most of the day is spent in a vehicle or on a boat
- Best time to travel
- June to October usually suits Nyerere game viewing and outdoor visits to the Kilwa ruins. Rain can affect the park tracks and coastal roads; the Kilwa Kisiwani boat visit must also fit tides and sea conditions.
- Start and end
- Starts and ends in Dar es Salaam
Why this journey
- A boat safari on the Rufiji and a full day of game drives
- Kilwa Kisiwani, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- The Great Mosque and the Husuni Kubwa palace
- The drive south through Pwani, on a road few visitors take
- Wildlife and Swahili history in one five-day route
Day by day
Nyerere and Kilwa are a few hours apart and almost never visited together. This route gives the park two days, including the boat safari, then continues to Kilwa Masoko and across to the ruins at Kilwa Kisiwani.
Day 1 — Dar es Salaam to Nyerere (Selous) and Rufiji boat safari
An early morning departure covers the 6-hour drive to Nyerere National Park. After check-in and lunch, an afternoon boat safari along the Rufiji River channels. The waterway is famously dense with wildlife, allowing visitors to view plenty of resident hippos, crocodiles, and a prolific array of specialized waterfowl and birds of prey hunting along the shoreline.
Stay Nyerere Tented Camp Meals Lunch & Dinner
Day 2 — Full day game drive in Nyerere National Park
After breakfast, a full day across the park's diverse landscapes scouting for lions, elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, impalas, and warthogs, with guides directing travellers past major lakes and riverbeds, where you can watch countless hippos and crocodiles interacting in their natural environment.
Stay Nje Bush Camp Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 3 — Drive to Kilwa Masoko, the gateway to the ruins
After coffee, a wilderness walking safari…accompanied by armed rangers, then back for breakfast. The group then drives to Kilwa, which comprises three different towns. Kilwa Kivinje, Kilwa Masoko, Kilwa Kisiwani, with Songo Mnara and Sanje Ya Kiti. Kilwa Masoko is the modern town right now, the centre of operations, and the location of all modern-day facilities.
Stay Kilwa Beach Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 4 — Kilwa Kisiwani ruins tour
A local dhow carries visitors to the island's historic structures. Kilwa Kisiwani is where one will find the greatest collection of ruins. Sites include the old Omani Fort, built on the foundations of the old Portuguese fort in the early 19th Century, the Big Mosque…from the 12th Century and…extended up to the 15th Century, described as the largest mosque in East Africa, and The Great House…most likely Sultan's palace with four graves.
Stay Kilwa Beach Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 5 — Return to Dar es Salaam
The morning includes visiting Kilwa Kivinje, 30 km north — a 19th Century Arabian slave and ivory trading town with many old colonial buildings and crumbling remains of ancient Omani buildings. The Old German Boma…overlooks the waterfront and is the town's oldest building. Then the return to Dar es Salaam.
Meals Breakfast & Lunch
Stay and travel
Comfortable mid-range lodges and tented camps, inside the parks wherever the route allows.
A 4×4 with a roof hatch and a window seat for everyone, driven by your guide throughout.
Camps fill, and roads change with the rains. Where something has to change we substitute at the same level and tell you before you travel, not after.
Included and excluded
What is included
- Every activity named in the day-by-day
- Accommodation as listed, or a similar alternative if a camp is full
- Meals as noted against each day
- Transfers between the agreed pick-up and drop-off points
- Park, reserve and conservation area fees
- An English-speaking Tanzanian driver-guide
- A 4×4 with a roof hatch, or the vehicle the route calls for
- Drinking water through the day
- Government taxes
- Boat safari and transfers
- TANAPA armed ranger where the park requires one
Not included
- International flights, airport taxes and visa fees
- Travel, medical and baggage insurance
- Personal spending — drinks, laundry, telephone
- Tips for your guide and crew
- Anything not listed as included
Practical information
- Visas, insurance and tipping
- A visa is arranged before travel or on arrival. Travel and medical insurance is a condition of booking. Tipping is customary and we will suggest a range rather than set one.
Related journeys
1 day 
2 days Nyerere from Zanzibar — Fly-In
Off the island by light aircraft, a game drive and a boat safari on the Rufiji, one night in the bush, and back to the beach by the second afternoon.
Wildlife
2 days Nyerere in Two Days — Budget
One night in the largest park in Tanzania: a game drive on arrival, a boat on the Rufiji at first light, and back to Dar by evening.
Wildlife
Every route here can be changed
Tell us what you would keep, what you would drop and how long you have. We will send back a version that is yours.