5 Days 4 Nights - Mikumi National Park Town of Ifakara and Udzungwa Mountains

5 Days 4 Nights - Mikumi National Park Town of Ifakara and Udzungwa Mountains

This tour is a mixture of game drive, canoe experience and hiking. Starting with a game drive at the southern circuit famous, Mikumi National Park and later a fascinating experience of the canoe safari in the Kilombero River in the Town of Ifakara while witnessing the various occupations of the Wanamba tribe of Ifakara, mostly fishing and the tour will end up by hiking through the beautiful scenes and landscapes of the Udzungwa Mountains to an amazing view of the popular 170m Sanje Waterfalls.

Itinerary

Day 1: Depart to Mikumi National Park & An Afternoon Game Drive

Stop At: Kinole Waterfall, Kinole Village, Morogoro Tanzania
Pick you up at the hotel - Dar es Salaam early morning at around 6:00 am, and then drive for 5 - 6 hours to Mikumi, with a stop for lunch on the way. On arrival, go for an afternoon game drive until sunset.

Mikumi National Park: Established in 1964, it is the fourth largest park in the country covering an area of 3,230 sq. kms. The landscape of Mikumi is often compared to that of the Serengeti. The road that crosses the park divides it into two areas with partially distinct environments. During game drive at this park, you can see a rich variety of bird species, as well as large numbers of giraffe, buffalo and elephants. You may also be able to spot lions, leopards and African wild dogs. Likely to be seen animals include zebras, hippos, hartebeest, wildebeest, impala, warthog, eland and antelope.

In the late evening, you’ll drive to the lodge, rest and later have your hot dinner and stay the overnight at Tanswiss Lodge (lunch & dinner included)

Duration: 5 hours

Meals included:
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Tanswiss Lodge

Day 2: Full Day Game Drive at Mikumi National Park

Stop At: Kinole Waterfall, Kinole Village, Morogoro Tanzania
After breakfast, go for a full day game drive across the enormous beautiful Mikumi National Park until evening.

The Mkata flood plain is an attractive point of the park where you can easily spot a large number of animals including elephants, buffalos, zebras, giraffes, wild dogs, and impala and spot a rich number of bird species. The vegetation of this area consists of savannah dotted with acacia, baobab, tamarinds, and some rare palm. In this area, at the furthest from the road, there are spectacular rock formations of the mountains Rubeho and Uluguru.

Back to the lodge in the late evening, rest and later have your hot dinner and spend the overnight at Tanswiss Lodge (breakfast, lunch & dinner included)

Duration: 8 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Tanswiss Lodge

Day 3: Depart to Town of Ifakara for a Canoe Safari in Kilombero River

Stop At: Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Kidayi Tanzania
After breakfast, depart to Town of Ifakara (a 4 hours drive), arriving in the early afternoon. On arrival, collect your lunch boxes while waiting for the set up of your canoe safari.

With the start of canoeing, you can relax while you are punted upstream with a long pole. Its likely you’ll see hippos, crocodiles, Nile monitor lizards and many many birds, including the endemic Kilombero Weaver and if you’re really lucky, a shoebill. The canoe trip can be as long as you wish, from just half an hour, to a full day with a picnic on a sandbank. You’ll see many fishermen, The Wandamba tribe in their smaller dugout boats fishing. The canoe safari in Kilomero River is excellent for birding enthusiasts!

In the late evening, drive back to the lodge, get your hot dinner and spend the overnight at Udzungwa Falls Lodge (breakfast, lunch & dinner included)

Duration: 3 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Udzungwa Falls Lodge

Day 4: Hiking the Udzungwa Mountains & The Popular Sanje Waterfalls

Stop At: Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Kidayi Tanzania
After an early breakfast, collect your packed lunch boxes while waiting for your driver guide to pick you up and transfer you to the starting point of the hike. This is a hike through the beautiful forests and landscape scenery up to an amazing waterfall.

Udzungwa Mountains National Park: The park covers an area of 1,990 sq. kms, the habitats contained within the national park include tropical rainforest, mountain forest, miombo woodland, grassland and steppe. There are more than 400 bird species, 2500 plant species (25% of which are endemics) and 6 primate species. The Iringa red colobus and Sanje crested mangabey are only found in the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, the mangabey species was undetected by biologists prior to 1979. It has the second largest biodiversity of a national park in Africa. The most common walk is the “Sanje Waterfalls” trail which takes approximately four hours to complete and allows the visitor access to the stunning 170 m waterfall and includes swimming in the waterfall plunge pools as part of the activity. It is an exclusive hiking and walking safari park. Udzungwa is the magnet for hikers which offer an excellent network of forest trails.

During hiking with a professional guide, you will learn about various trees used for traditional healings and others poisonous, and the view of the largest Tanzania sugarcane plantation (Kilombero Sugarcane Valley) from the waterfall is just incredible.

Back from the mountain in the late afternoon, then picked-up by your driver guide who will transfer you back to the lodge, rest until evening, get your hot dinner and stay the overnight at Udzungwa Falls Lodge (breakfast, lunch & dinner included)

Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Udzungwa Falls Lodge

Day 5: Depart to Dar es Salaam

Stop At: Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Kidayi Tanzania
After breakfast - depart to Dar es Salaam (a 6 - 7 hours drive), with lunch break on the way, arriving at Dar es Salaam in the early evening; take you back to the hotel/airport to catch your flight back home (breakfast & lunch included)
Duration: 7 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
No accommodation included on this day.