Fly-in safaris in southern Tanzania (to Selous, Ruaha and Saadani) start from Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam (DAR/HTDA). Some flights operate the bush from Zanzibar International Airport (ZNZ/HTZA) via Dar es Salaam.

These main airports have good connections with for example Europe, Zanzibar and Nairobi, allowing for convenient itineraries.

Flying to the parks is a fast and comfortable way of travelling. Once there, you stay in lodges or tented camps, from where you do game drives into the bush to enjoy the wildlife.

Flying to popular destinations will allow for less time used up for travelling and more time spent on safari enjoying the delights that Tanzania has to offer. If you want to catch the great migration in the Serengeti, then ideal timing for this trip would be around October to December when the migration will be up in northern part of the Serengeti, making their way down to the south.

After your safari, if you want to relax on the beach, then add one of our beach add-on trips to Zanzibar, Pemba, Ras Kutani or the Mafia Archipelago, to your itinerary.

Flying or travelling by road?

Flying is a comfortable means of transport compared to safari vehicles on bush roads. It's also much faster – Arusha to central Serengeti is an hour by air, and some 7 hours by road. In southern Tanzania, travelling to Selous and Ruaha by road takes even longer, and flying is the option preferred by most.

What you don't get when flying is the experience of travelling the Tanzanian countryside and bush, passing through towns and villages, stopping to bargain for a bunch of local bananas, and smelling the soil. The aerial views cannot fully match the scenery along the road – especially northern Tanzania offers many stunning views. Some safari-goers mix travelling by road and air, to get the benefits of both.

Arriving in the parks

Safari-goers arriving by air are met on the airstrip and driven to the lodge or camp for checking in. Should your flight be rerouted to a different airstrip, the staff meeting you goes there, too.

Game viewing

The game viewing on fly-in safaris may be organized in two different ways. You may either join the game drives organized by the lodge or camp that you are staying in, or do game drives with a vehicle and guide from Anderson's. The latter comes at a higher cost, and at the advantage of having a vehicle at your disposal for exclusive use, for outings, full-day game drives etc.

Sheduled safari flights

Most scheduled safari flights operate a number of airstrips en route, but land only where passengers are to be picked up or dropped.

Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Tarangire in northern Tanzania have good flight services. Ngorongoro Airstrip is unreliable, as clouds and mist on the Ngorongoro Crater rim may prevent landing and take-off. If the strip is closed, the flights are rerouted to Lake Manyara Airstrip.

Southern Tanzania has scheduled flights to Selous, Ruaha and Saadani.

Chartered safari flights

Chartering an aircraft is mainly of interest if you prefer to travel independently or to visit parks that are not serviced by scheduled flights, for example Mikumi or Katavi.

Some select lodges and tented camps have their own nearby airstrip for clients arriving by chartered flights.

The aircraft

The safari flights are operated by light aircraft. Most are single propeller, such as the common Cessna Caravan, but dual propeller and turboprop aircraft are also seen. Small 4 to 6-seaters may be used for some chartered flights.

The airstrips

The bush airstrips in the parks are unpaved grass or dirt strips. Large parks, such as Serengeti and Selous, have several airstrips.

The bush airstrips don't have customs or immigrations facilities, so direct safari flights from neighboring countries such as Kenya or Uganda into the Tanzanian parks are not possible.

Our itineraries

Martial Adventure Safari's offers fly-in safaris to all parks that have a dependable airstrip and accommodation facilities. Besides our set fly-in itineraries to the main parks, we can tailor an itinerary for you that includes those parks that you want to visit, the lodges or camps of your choice, chartered flights, etc