Nyerere National Park was created in 2019 from the northern section of the former Selous Game Reserve, and at roughly 30,900 square kilometres it is one of the largest national parks on the continent. It sits in southern Tanzania, and it is a very different experience from the northern circuit.
The park is built around the Rufiji River and its network of channels, lakes and sandbanks. That water changes what a safari here looks like. Alongside game drives you take boat safaris along the river, drifting past hippo pods, enormous crocodiles and elephant coming down to drink, and walking safaris with an armed ranger are permitted in ways they are not in the northern parks.
Wildlife includes large elephant and buffalo herds, lion, hippo, crocodile, giraffe and one of the more significant remaining African wild dog populations. Visitor numbers are a fraction of the northern circuit, so sightings are often yours alone.
Nyerere is reached by light aircraft from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar in under an hour, which makes it the natural safari choice for guests already on the coast.