Southern
The Southern Circuit
Bigger, wilder, and almost empty
The Circuit
Nyerere and Ruaha are among the largest protected areas in Africa, and on most days you will have them very nearly to yourself. This is safari for people who have done the icons — or who never wanted them.
The south trades the migration spectacle for scale and solitude. Boat safaris on the Rufiji, walking safaris through miombo woodland, and predator densities that rival anywhere on the continent, all with a fraction of the northern circuit's vehicles.
It is also our home ground. Vemi Safaris is based in Dar es Salaam, which puts Mikumi within a morning's drive and Nyerere a 45-minute flight away — the reason we can offer genuine weekend safaris that northern operators simply cannot.
Best for
- Repeat safari-goers and wilderness purists
- Walking and boat safaris
- Weekend and short-notice trips from Dar es Salaam
- Travellers who want photographs without other vehicles in them
Planning notes
- Destinations
- 5 parks & places
- Suggested length
- 5 – 9 days
- Best time to go
- June to October, when wildlife concentrates on the rivers and the roads are at their best. January and February are green, hot and beautifully empty.
- Getting there
- Dar es Salaam (DAR) is the gateway. Nyerere and Ruaha are short scheduled flights; Mikumi and Udzungwa are a four to five hour drive on the Morogoro road.
Why Come Here
What the southern circuit does best
Boat safaris on the Rufiji
Drifting past hippo pods, monster crocodiles and elephants crossing between palm islands — a perspective no vehicle can give you.
Ruaha's predators
One of the largest remaining lion populations on Earth, plus significant numbers of African wild dog and leopard.
Walking safaris
Tracking on foot with an armed guide changes the scale of everything. The south is where Tanzania does this best.
A weekend from Dar
Mikumi's Mkata floodplain delivers lion, elephant and giraffe within a single day's drive of the city.
The Destinations
Where you go on the southern circuit
Journeys Here
Safaris on the southern circuit
6 Days / 5 NightsMikumi · Nyerere (Selous)
Southern Explorer
Mikumi & Nyerere, far from the crowds
View journey
3 Days / 2 NightsMikumi
Mikumi Weekend
Leave Dar on Saturday, home by Sunday night
View journey
7 Days / 6 NightsRuaha · Nyerere (Selous)
Ruaha & Nyerere Wilderness
The south at full scale
View journeyGood to Know
Questions, answered
It is different, not better. The north has the migration and the crater; the south has space, water-based safari and walking. Travellers with a week to spend often pick one; those with two weeks do both.