Southern circuit
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Where to go in southern Tanzania
While Tanzania’s world-famous sites are in the northern circuit, the southern circuit of the country has more than its fair share of incredible sights to see. One word that can be used to describe the southern circuit is ‘sprawling’. Ruaha and Nyerere national parks combine to over 50,000 km2 of safari landscape.
Park – Ruaha National Park
One of the two gargantuan southern national parks, Ruaha National Park is a huge landmass in the southern circuit of Tanzania. Ruaha has populations of the Big Five, and due to the protected nature of the park, functions as an important conservation area for many of the region’s more at-risk species.
The main feature of the park, and how it got its name, is the Great Ruaha River. This body of water snakes its way through the southern region of the park and is an important source of life for the region, particularly in the dry season.
Park – Mikumi National Park
Mikumi National Park, despite being the fourth largest park in Tanzania, is one of the least visited. The flat landscape that gives way to the foothills of the Udzungwa Mountains is unquestionably picturesque – the very image of the classic African savannah.
While there are fewer resorts and accommodations compared to the more popular northern parks, the ones that are there are incredible. This trade-off of options also gives rise to other positive features: the park feels less crowded than others, and the relative lack of tourist traffic means that conservation efforts are more successful.
Park – Nyerere National Park
While the Serengeti gets all of the credit and certainly seems like the biggest, Tanzania’s largest national park and game reserve is Nyerere National Park, in the southern circuit. Nyerere was formerly part of the Selous Game Reserve, named after Frederick Selous, a legendary figure in east African colonial history and early conservationist.
In 2019, the Tanzanian government created Nyerere, making it the largest national park in Tanzania (it is larger than some 70 countries worldwide!). Nyerere is home to some of the most iconic animals in Africa: situated on the banks of the Rufiji River, the park is teeming with bird, amphibian, and land wildlife!
Mountain – Udzungwa Mountains National Park
While many of the national parks in Tanzania showcase the prototypical African landscape of the wide, stretching savannah, Udzungwa Mountains National Park offers a wholly different spectacle to behold. Along the south-central inland area of Tanzania rise the towering Udzungwa Mountains – a spectacular mountain range with a host of unique species living there.
The national park that derives its name from the mountain range encapsulates a wide range of landscapes around and including the mountains with both savannah and tropical forests, as well as towering waterfalls and rocky steppe. Udzungwa remains a relatively rare spectacle, with many tourists preferring more popular parks.
Island – Fanjove Island
While Tanzania’s spice island archipelago are famed the world over, somewhat less well known are the smaller southern islands of the Songo Songo Archipelago. One of these islands, a tiny, reef-protected spit of land, is the tropical wonderland known as Fanjove Island.
Fanjove is a secret paradise – while it has all of the azure blue waters, warm seas, and pristine alabaster stretches of beach that you might find on Zanzibar, you can experience it without the influx of tourists. No matter which time of year you choose to visit Fanjove, you can have an intimate experience with this idyllic island.
