Southern Tanzania is the
very definition of the bush wilderness experience, an
area encompassing some of the purest remaining tracts
of gamelands in Africa and home to a select clutch of
national parks and reserves.
Amongst the safari fraternity, names
such as Selous, Katavi and Ruaha evoke reverence and
respect, proof of their rightful place in the safari
pantheon, whilst the beaches, the islands and the coastline
are either world-famous or completely unexplored. Southern
Tanzania sits at the crossroads of the Northern/ Eastern
and Southern varieties of mammal, sometimes only a river
separating them, and explorations of the park are a
true biologist’s dream.
In keeping with the raw nature of the
environment, the properties in these parks are of the
small, low-impact variety, mainly taking the form of
small permanent tented camps rather than the large lodges
of the Northern circuit. The hosts of these camps have
decided it is not worth competing with the majesty of
the wilderness to be found around the camps, and keep
their homes as harmonious with nature as can be done
without sleeping under a tree. The little luxuries that
are added attain much more value when you find yourself
alone in an area the size of a European country.
Remote location, limited bedspace and
boundless bush will ensure that even as awareness grows
of the bounteous wildlife roaming these lands, the safari
experience of Tanzania's southern safarilands will remain
of the true and unadulterated variety For an Africa
of purity and distinctive authenticity, there is no
finer destination.
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