Walking Safaris

Walking safaris are the most natural way to see unspoiled Africa’s wilderness. While on a normal safari (game drive), you will be limited to exploring only places where a car can get. In Tanzania, only a few companies and a handful of parks are allowed to walk inside them.

Walking will let you more close to the game, and experience the wildlife from a more natural level. Walking in Tanzania is completely different from a game drive. On foot, you will be a participant in the world of wildlife rather than an observer.

Walking safari is a good way of experiencing the ultimate in Africa. Picture walking through the untouched wild of Tanzania, to your left is a 1000-year-old Baobab tree, and to your right, is a herd of giraffes getting ready for the day ahead. Step by step, you’re connecting with nature in its rawest form. It’s a magical experience you will never forget.

Getting close to the African bush and the wildlife that call it home is a must-do item on any safari adventurer’s bucket list. You will be accompanied by an experienced and professional game tracker, and he will take you out and show you the best-kept secrets of Tanzania’s wilderness areas.

Here follows are a few reasons why you should not miss a safari on foot;

• Access remote areas on foot.

On foot, you can walk into remote areas and reach places that a safari jeep can’t. Once on foot, you are not controlled by roads and can go almost anywhere you like depending on the animals’ movement and weather. Away from the crowds, off the beaten track. It offers you freedom incomparable to any game drive safari.

• Feel, hear, touch, see and smell Tanzania’s wilderness areas.

Imagine, walking on the same path as the elephants and other wildlife, you feel the wind through your hair, hearing a lion roar in the distance, and smell the bush and wildlife. Your senses awaken, as you become part of your environment and the wilderness becomes more real.

• Learn more about the wilderness.

You actually learn about the behavior of animals on normal game drives but you learn a whole lot more on foot, especially if you have a good guide. Explore the stories behind a pile of old bones, learn about the place of animals, insects, and plants in puzzlingly complex ecosystems, discover that trees are more interesting than you think, and find out about seeds that are almost magical in their evolutionary adaptations.

• A new perspective on wildlife.

Being on foot changes how you view and think about animals and plants. You may have previously dismissed impalas as boring when you see herds of them on game drives, but when you encounter them on a walking safari, you can’t help but wonder at their beauty, speed, and beauty.

You will realize how much it takes just to stay alive in the bush, and you can feel how vulnerable prey animals are, at any given moment they could be eaten, which gives you a new sense of respect.

Where to go for walking safaris in Tanzania?

Selous Game Reserve.

This is the largest of its kind in Africa, can walk around with a naturalist guide to track lions, hyenas, and leopards’ footprints, meet traditional doctors, explore medicinal plants and dig in about the bush life of Africa.

Ruaha National Park.

With the huge old baobabs and massive grassland decorating the second largest national park in Tanzania, this park is among the best area for a walking safari in Tanzania.  Ruaha national park is home to elephants, Birds, kuds, sables, waterbucks, and the smaller dik-diks. Ruaha National Park makes for private treatment in the popular African wilderness.

Lake Manyara National Park.

It is where pink flamingos and tree-climbing lionesses live, what joy it is to admire nature from so close. This little park close to the safari capital of Tanzania is a delight to visit. Walk with the armed ranger close to the lake and get to experience spectacular birdlife and close wildlife encounters in all safety.

Serengeti national park.

The Serengeti is well known for its world-famous wildebeest migration; the migration offers some of the best wildlife viewings in the world. The park is huge, and there are extensive wilderness zones that game-driving vehicles aren’t allowed to visit and cannot reach.

The experience of striking out on foot couldn’t be more different from game viewing from a vehicle. The pace is gentle and the terrain varied. Low acacia woodland provides cover; the rolling terrain slowly reveals its secrets.

Tarangire National park.

Tarangire offers some of the best walking experiences in northern Tanzania. The southern end of the park is the wilder region and, with its springs and riverine offers itself well to walking safaris. Wildlife during the dry season comes into Tarangire from the surrounding Maasai Plains, lured by the Tarangire River, the region’s most robust source of permanent water through the dry season. All the major species abound here and there is an excellent chance of encountering many of them on a walking safari.

Katavi National Park.

Narrow seasonal rivers in the middle of Katavi’s flood plains look at first glance unremarkable. But the quantity of wildlife that seeks refuge here during the dry season (whether predator or prey) has to be seen to be believed.

Walking here is usually for a night or two as part of a stay at Chada Camp. Also, longer walks of several days can be set. Katavi is a thrillingly wild place –expect the excitement and the odd sleepless night, but the experience is one serious wilderness enthusiasts will appreciate.