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Hello,

We got back from Tanzania a month ago, on March 5th. I’ve started this trip report at the link the moderator asked me to use:

https://voyageforum.com/forum/decouverte-ruaha-nyerere-ex-selous-en-fevrier-mars-2026-d11466010/

You’ll find a video of our trip on my YouTube channel there.

Now I’ll tell you about our 10-night trip in Tanzania, with 8 nights spent in two parks we didn’t know. Tanzania isn’t new to us—it was even our first African safari destination back in 2012. https://www.youtube.com/@lolodetoul54 Since then, we’ve visited several East and Southern African countries: Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, some of them multiple times. We usually travel in September during the dry season. We tried March 2024 for nine nights in the Okavango and loved it, except everything was dry, which wasn’t normal for the rainy season.

So for this second March trip during the wet season, we really got what we asked for… rain. But before that, we had to fight just to get to Tanzania.

Saturday, February 21, 2026:

It’s D-Day—the departure. What a hassle to organize flights to and within Tanzania! I’ll tell you all about it in another post: https://voyageforum.com/forum/toutes-compagnies-aeriennes-tanzaniennes-interdites-d10758360/ On top of that, Rwandair canceled our outbound flight a month before departure. They offered to reschedule us 3-4 days later—ridiculous for a 10-night trip we’d already booked. We had to cancel our tickets and buy new ones with Kenya Airways. We’re still waiting for our refund from Rwandair!!!!!!! So on Saturday, February 1st, our bags were packed. We headed to the Lorraine TGV station, about 30 km from home.

Direct train to Roissy—just 1h15. Quick and efficient. All that was left was to wait for our overnight flight. We took off on time, just before 11 PM. Smooth flight, nothing unusual. Arrived in Nairobi around 9 AM. A few hours’ wait, then a flight to Dar es Salaam, landing at our first destination around 12:45 PM. Our local contact, Anne from Asanterra agency, picked us up at the airport. It was hot and humid—it was raining.

Our first night was at the Alexander Hotel. That evening, we treated ourselves to fish and shellfish at the hotel restaurant:

Sunday, February 22, 2026:

A driver picked us up at dawn to take us to the domestic airport so we could finally head to our first destination: Ruaha National Park. We flew with Auric.air for a 2-hour flight with two stops (Nyerere and Zkima airstrips).

I’m always amazed at how easily these Cessnas take off and land on dirt runways—especially when they’re wet:

Aerial view of Zkima airstrip, where we’d landed just minutes earlier:

Flyover of Iringa, a "big" city in the country near Ruaha National Park:

We’re getting close. The plane descends and flies over the Ruaha River, which gave the park its name:

We land for the third and final time that day, reaching our destination: Msembe airstrip, the gateway to Ruaha.

Exploring Ruaha and Nyerere (formerly Selous) in February-March 2026

by SimonL · 2026-03-30 · 0 replies

Hello,

Well, this trip to Tanzania in the southern parks—Ruaha and Nyerere (formerly Selous)—finally happened in late February to early March.

It was a bit more complicated to organize than usual, with a few hiccups. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere (link), the ban on booking domestic flights in Tanzania through a French agency made things a little tricky.

However, my friend Vincent Beccaro from Objectif Nature found a solution by having a local ground operator step in—one I’d recommend if you run into similar issues.

With flight tickets secured through Kenya Airways (after Rwandair canceled our outbound flight), we easily made it to Dar es Salaam on February 22. Side note: my dealings with Rwandair to get a refund for the flights they canceled are still ongoing. This airline is dragging its feet, constantly pushing back the refund date every time I check in (which is about once a week). I won’t back down.

Back to our 10-night trip: we spent our first night in Dar es Salaam before heading to Ruaha with Auric Air.

We stayed in some incredible lodges—4 nights at Ikuka Safari Camp in Ruaha, then 4 nights at Laba Siwada in Nyerere, before returning to Dar es Salaam.

Before I share a full recap with photos, I’ve just finished editing a video I’d like to show you.

You’ll see beautiful lodges, rainy safaris, and some amazing wildlife encounters, like wild dogs and bat-eared foxes.

Sorting and identifying all the animals (especially the birds) from the thousands of photos I took will take a bit of time. Bear with me!

Watch the video here