Flying Safari | Tanzania's

Beast Retreat

Wildlife & Chimpanzees

Barefoot luxury and wild chimps

Western Tanzania is a very long way away, but the best places on the planet often are. This safari is a unique opportunity to enjoy one of the remotest regions in Africa.

On joining a light aircraft charter flight from Arusha, your first stop is Katavi National Park, for a 3-night stay at Chada Camp. With a focus on the more traditional safari, enjoy exceptional walking safaris and 4WD game drives in one of the least visited National Parks in Tanzania. There is also the opportunity to try fly camping, sleeping under a canopy of a billion stars, for the adventurous at heart.

A further flight takes you to your second and final safari destination, but a safari destination like no other. You will spend 4-nights in the barefoot luxury that is Greystoke Mahale, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika and at the base of the Mahale Mountains. Here it is all about the most privileged primates on the planet, the wild chimps of Mahale. With just 6 thatched bandas in camp, it is as much about time away from the ‘ordinary’ as it is about time with the chimps and the ‘extraordinary’.

9 UNFORGETTABLE DAYS

DAY 1 | ARUSHA | 1 NIGHT

Arrive to Kilimanjaro International Airport, where you will be met and privately transferred to your hotel for the night. Time to relax and recover from your flight or enjoy an optional excursion, such as a bike ride or coffee plantation tour. Evening at leisure before the real adventure begins tomorrow.

DAY 2-4 | KATAVI NATIONAL PARK | 3 NIGHTS

After breakfast you will be driven to the local airstrip to join a light aircraft flight south west to Katavi National Park to spend 3 amazing nights at Chada Katavi Camp. This safari is a unique opportunity to enjoy one of the remotest regions in Africa. Katavi and Mahale are accessed by a shared scheduled charter flight from Arusha and as far as safaris go, this is one of the most unique, remote, and awe-inspiring trips in Africa. Katavi has changed little since it opened twenty years ago. Here, you will explore, enjoying walks out across the plains and appreciate the total lack of people. It’s not only having your feet on the ground at the same level as the big game, but the feeling that you are the only people doing so. Take bedrolls and sling them under a borassus palm in the fly-camp, venture to Paradise Plains by 4WD and appreciate seeing nothing but wild Africa for miles.

DAY 5-8 | MAHALE MOUNTAINS | 4 NIGHTS

Today, a short 25-minute flight takes you over the Mahale Mountains to land on the banks of Lake Tanganyika. Once you arrive in Mahale you will be met by your guide and taken by dhow to camp. This boat trip skims along the shoreline of the impossibly clear Lake Tanganyika with the Mahale Mountains rising from the beach. Then you will catch the first glimpse of the iconic Greystoke beach, always a memorable moment. Here, you will share the mountains and the lake with many animals, but it’s the chimps that really steal the show. Time spent with them is time away from everything else that is ordinary. But, there’s more. Hike the forest paths looking for all the other animals who quietly live here. Swim in pools up in mountain waterfalls, take a kayak out for a dawn paddle and enjoy the sunrise coming up over the mountains. Have sundowners on an old wooden dhow, stopping to fish along the way, or just relax on the warm sands of the beach with a drink in hand.

DAY 9 | END OF SAFARI

Today you will fly (approx. five hours, with refuel stops), back to Arusha. Then it is a private road transfer to Kilimanjaro international airport to join your onward flight.

WHERE YOU’LL STAY

A selection of the finest safari camps

Legendary Lodge – Arusha

Legendary Lodge is a luxury Colonial Plantation Farmhouse located on the outskirts of Arusha, just ten minutes from the airport. Surrounded by a working coffee farm and set in lush tropical gardens with views of Mount Meru, it is a cool and peaceful city retreat - the ideal spot to spend a couple of nights pre– or post-safari. Read More

Chada Katavi – Katavi National Park

Chada Katavi is stylish and wonderfully comfortable, but the camp’s footprint remains light. The game is everywhere and elephants frenquently visit camp, attracted to the shady fruit trees. Few people venture to Katavi National Park but it is one of Africa’s hidden treasures. Read More

Greystoke Mahale – Mahale Mountains

On its own secluded beach on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania sits Greystoke Mahale. The mountains rise up behind camp supporting lush evergreen semi-tropical forest, colourful butterflies, glades of jasmine and around 1,000 wild chimpanzees. Few camps have a more beautiful or secluded location. Read More

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