Southern Tanzania

Mikumi National Park abuts the northern border of Africa's biggest game reserve - the Selous – and is transected by the surfaced road between Dar es Salaam and Iringa. It is thus the most accessible part of a 75,000 square km (47,000 square mile) tract of wilderness that stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean. The open horizons and abundant wildlife of the Mkata Floodplain, the popular centre piece of Mikumi, draw frequent comparisons to the more famous Serengeti Plains.

Ruaha is the safari connoisseur's destination of choice, a vast and unexplored tract of wilderness that maintains a reputation for prolific and rare wildlife. Undeserved and unjust references to tsetse and impassable mud left this park tragically overlooked for many years, but as word creeps out of the sheer diversity of game that roams Ruaha, the park gains the notoriety that bolsters its reputation now.

The largest game reserve in Africa covering an area the size of Switzerland, Selous is possibly Africa's last great wilderness. Despite its size, however, this UNESCO World Heritage site has only a handful of high-end safari camps, allowing it to maintasin a low-impact exclusivity that is granted by few parks elsewhere.

Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a forested area that is home to several species of primates, including the rare Iringa red colobus and the Sange crested mangabey monkey. Fragments of the Eastern Arc Mountains rise from the Udzungwa rainforest below and views from the peaks allow climbers to see the Selous Game Reserve and the coast of the Indian Ocean.