10 Days 9 Nights Remote Tanzania Safari Katavi & Mahale | One Night in Arusha Town | Three Nights in Katavi National Park | Four Nights in Mahale Mountains National Park | Tanzania Safari Tours
10 Days 9 Nights Remote Tanzania Safari Katavi & Mahale: This unusual safari takes you far away from the well-travelled tourist routes at the Northern Circuit first to Katavi National Park. Isolated, untrammelled and seldom visited, Katavi is a true wilderness, providing the few intrepid souls who make it there with a thrilling taste of Africa as it must have been a century ago.
Onwards you travel to Mahale Mountains set deeply in the heart of the African interior, inaccessible by overshadowed by a chain of wild, jungle-draped peaks towering almost 2km above the shore: the remote and mysterious Mahale Mountains. Due to the schedule of the flights’ arrival into Arusha should be on Monday or Thursday during January/ February and Sunday or Wednesday during the other months.
Game viewing in Katavi can be nothing short of awesome, especially the huge herds of buffalo and amazing numbers of hippo. Almost everywhere you look there’s something grazing, bellowing, fighting, mating or hunting. Days in Katavi can be wild beyond belief. Further north, on the western border and the edge of Lake Tanganyika, is Mahale Mountain, another region where the clock seems to have stopped.
The forested mountain slopes are home to the world’s largest known population of chimpanzees. Other forest residents include eight other primate species. Each day, you can venture out into the forest to observe them, our closest relatives, as they groom, wrestle and forage across the leafy floor.
Safari Itinerary in Summary
Day 1: Kilimanjaro – Arusha, Tanzania Arrival
Day 2: Arusha – Fly to Katavi National Park, Tanzania
Day 3: Katavi National Park
Day 4: Katavi National Park
Day 5: Katavi – Mahale National Park
Day 6: Mahale National Park, Tanzania
Day 7: Mahale National Park
Day 8: Mahale National Park
Day 9: Mahale – Fly to Arusha
Day 10: Arusha – Depart
Safari Itinerary in Detail
Day 1: Kilimanjaro – Arusha, Tanzania Arrival
Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be met by an African Spice Safaris Driver/Guide and proceed to your hotel in Arusha. An African Spice Safari Director will come to meet you for a safari briefing. Shake off the jet lag and stretch out for a comfortable night’s rest in Serena Mountain Village Lodge.
Overnight at Serena Mountain Village Lodge
Meal Plan {Bed & Breakfast}
Day 2: Arusha – Fly to Katavi National Park, Tanzania
After breakfast, you transfer to Arusha Airport for a charter flight to Katavi National Park located southwest Tanzania. (Flight departure time from Arusha is at 08:00 hrs and arrival time at Katavi at around 11:30hrs). Once at Katavi, you will proceed on a game drive en route to Katuma Bush Lodge for lunch. The Lodge is situated in the middle of the park, on an elevated point overlooking the vast plains of Katisunga. Herds of animals coming in search of fresh grazing grounds and water provide the perfect view right from your tent.
Tamarind and Acacia trees provide shade and the sunsets behind the distant woodlands surrounding the seasonal lake provide a perfect background to the stunning scenery. Your accommodations are spacious, comfortable luxury tents.
After lunch, our driver-guide will give you a briefing before you start to explore Katavi.
Overnight at Katuma Bush Lodge
Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}
Days 3 & 4: Explore Katavi National Park
You’ll spend the next two days exploring Katavi National Park, Tanzania’s third-largest national park on morning and afternoon game drives. The park lies in the remote southwest of the country, within a truncated arm of the Rift Valley that terminates in the shallow, brooding expanse of Lake Rukwa.
Game drives will be conducted around woodland areas and along the seasonal lakes of Chada and Katavi, where most of the game is found – including the big cats. You also have an opportunity to take a walking safari into some of the most spectacular sites in the park, allowing you to enjoy the unique tranquil bliss of being a part of nature together with an armed Ranger Guide
Overnight at Katuma Bush Lodge
Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}
Day 5: Katavi – Mahale National Park
Morning at leisure until your departure to Katavi Airstrip (with a packed lunch) for your short scenic flight to Mahale Mountain National Park located at the banks of Lake Tanganyika. At Mahale Airstrip our boat takes you to Kungwe Beach Lodge located on a long stretch of Lake Tanganyika’s golden sandy shores beneath the magnificent Mahale Mountains. The camp consists of 10 spacious and luxurious tents with en-suite facilities overlooking the crystal clear waters of Tanganyika. This afternoon you go on a short Chimpanzee Tracking trip in the forest near the camp.
Overnight at Kungwe Beach Lodge.
Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}
Days 6, 7 & 8: Discover Mahale National Park
And for the next three days, we explore Lake Tanganyika and the Mahale Mountains. Chimpanzee tracking is the main attraction at Mahale and is our priority. Tracking usually begins early in the morning, with the Guides usually starting at the area where the Chimpanzees nested the previous night and tracking from there. In Mahale tracking can take up to four hours. Chimpanzees move in search of fruit and are never far away if there’s an abundance of fruit nearby.
Other activities include walking on the beach, swimming and snorkelling in the crystal clear waters of Tanganyika. Also, fishing trips to Tanganyika being an angler’s paradise can be arranged with experienced boatmen of the camp. It is also possible to visit local fishing villages close to the park and get the first-hand experience of life in a typical African village.
Overnight at Kungwe Beach Lodge
Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}
Day 9: Mahale – Arusha
Morning at leisure at the beach before your boat transfer to Mahale Airstrip for your charter flight back to Arusha. (Arrival time is approximately at 17:30) We transfer back to Serena Mountain Village Lodge.
Overnight at Serena Mountain Village Lodge
Meal Plan {Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner}
Day 10: Arusha – Kilimanjaro – Depart
We have a dayroom at our Hotel in Arusha, relax, enjoy lunch, take a city tour of Arusha or shop before your evening departure flight.
Dayrooms Serena Mountain Village Lodge
Meal Plan {Breakfast, lunch & Dinner}
NB – if you plan to proceed to Zanzibar there might be an option that you are dropped off at Kigoma Town for overnight and fly to Zanzibar the next day.
10 Days 9 Nights Remote Tanzania Safari Katavi & Mahale Prices
| Dates From | Dates To | Price Per Person | Children Aged 2 to 12 Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st January 2022 | 31st December 2022 | Request for rates | Request for rates |