The largest wildlife park in Africa - Nyerere National Park.

Tanzania is one of the most famous countries in East Africa, known for it's amazing wildlife and adventure Safari tours which visit the beautiful National parks such as Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Selous. These parks have plenty of wild animals such as Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs, Rhinos, Buffalo, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Zebra and many more, adding to hundreds of species of animals and over 300 species of birds !

Recently, in 2019, the Tanzania Government decided to create another new National park which was carved out from the vast Selous Game Reserve which was located in southern Tanzania, closer to Dar es Salaam. The Selous was not a national park but a game reserve which was managed differently compared to say a national park managed under the TANAPA organization, an example being the Serengeti and Tarangire parks. In order to make the management more professional, the Tanzanians moved to excise the northern part of Selous and called is the Nyerere National Park, Tanzania named after the much respected former President of Tanzania, the late Julius Nyerere, also known as 'Mwalimu' which is swahili for 'Teacher'.

This new park is well over 30000 square kilometers and encompasses a huge area with diverse geography, vegetation, topography and wildlife. This park is much different to Serengeti as it has a huge river flowing through it known as Rufiji, which waters a large area of the park so much so that part of the wilderness is flooded allowing tourists to see animals such as Elephant literally wading through shallow waters, quite a sight. The park also allows for Boat Safari, which are very exciting as tourists can explore the park and see different animals including crocodile and hippo while in the boat which allows one to get fairly close to these magnificent beasts.

One can see a full list of animals in Nyerere park online at various websites and it may be noted that the numbers of some of the species are quite healthy meaning that the area promises to become a leading national park suitable for Safaris in Tanzania.

The park is now well placed to receive visitors despite the pandemic thanks to a network of some well developed hotels located inside the park, mainly luxury tented safari camps and lodges, including some from the Serena Hotels group based in Kenya. 

Access from Dar es Salaam by road takes about 6 hours via Mtemere Gate while those who wish to fly can choose a number of airlines flying to various airstrips inside the park, including Auric Air and Coastal aviation. Here is a  map of the Nyerere National Park and the some more information on the park can be found at the Wikipedia page for Selous Reserve.

Tis park is now a must visit for adventurous and intrepid Safari travelers who plan to visit East Africa and enjoy the stunning scenery and amazing wildlife that one can now only find in parts of Africa.