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Location:
| Kusini
and Swala, formerly owned by Mashado and before them Ker and Downey,
are well known and popular by all clients and agents that had the
opportunity to stay in them.
Small, low impact and beautifully sited,
these very comfortable camps offer a chance to experience the African
bush at its most exciting, in a setting in which en-suite baths and
excellent meals complement the wilder pleasures of game viewing.
The
camps are renowned for their location within the parks and offer
luxury camping on par with the best in Africa. |
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This combination of tented accommodation,
unrivalled luxury and prime safari location has given these camps the top
class rating they have today among tour operators and clients. With the
camps under new management, the decision has been made to invest further
in them, by increasing the number of tents by three, developing a swimming
pool and establishing a more permanent structure for the mess tent without
destroying the feel of being out in the bush. This investment will take
these camps even further beyond the competition.
Centered on the Tarangire River, Tarangire National Park stands on its
own as one of the finest parks in Tanzania. It is a scenic gem with
expansive views, in which wide panoramas of wooded savannah stretch in
every direction. Its outstanding feature is its river, which is
permanent. It is the only reliable dry-season source of water
available to wildlife in a vast stretch of Tanzania’s Rift Valley. It
therefore attracts tremendous concentrations of animals. It is the only park in the
Northern Circuit where visitors can expect to see fringe-eared oryx, or
have the chance to view greater and lesser Kudu. The largest herds of
elephants in Africa are also found in this park, with herds reaching up to
400 in number.
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Accommodations:
| Swala Camp is located under
majestic umbrella acacia trees at the southwestern part of the park, by
the Gurusi marshes. It is 67km from the park entrance with access via two
routes; Kuro Ranger post and Buffalo Pool both of which have good roads
and it is approximately 15 minutes from its own airstrip. Elephants graze
in the marshes while Impalas and other gazelle are seen daily around the
tents. The only regular sighting of wild dog in 1998, were also at Swala.
This combined with regular sightings of four of the ‘big five’, make game
viewing excellent in a very private part of the park.
The tents have an en suite
bathroom with hot and cold running water on demand and a flush
toilets. Brass taps and shower fittings compliment the 'Out of Africa'
style of furnishings. King-size single or double beds are used.
The
view from the tents is enhanced by being on a raised wooden platform
and they are placed sufficiently distant to create a feeling of
exclusivity. The tents are insect proof. |
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Facilities:
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Access
to the camps is very good, each with their own airstrip and good roads
directly into the camps. The game viewing is excellent within the
camps and in the surrounding areas.
Being situated away from the
larger lodges has given the camps their own virtually private game
drive areas offering the clients unique and exciting game viewing,
without interruption from other tourists.
Also,
through their use of open vehicles and guided bush walks in secluded
corners of the best game viewing areas, they combine the more intimate and
interpretative activities reminiscent of Southern Africa with the exciting
species and dense game population for which Tanzania is famous.
The image that will be
portrayed by the camps will be that of a country house under canvas. The
standards of cuisine, service and hosting exceed those normally expected
in East Africa and are more comparable with camps in Botswana or Sabi
Sands in South Africa. The format of the camps however is traditional and
although the furnishings and details are of a very high standard the
architecture is designed to blend with the bush not compete with it.
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Game Viewing
/ Activities:
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Open vehicles, walking and
a virtually private game viewing area, achieve a more interactive
experience than the traditional East African formula. Low host to client
ratios also achieves a high level of interpretation and potential
customization of each client’s experience.
Tarangire is arguably, the best
dry season refuge for big-game in Africa. The lifeblood of this park is
the Tarangire River. This rises in the Kondoa Highlands to the southwest
of the park and bisects the length of the park providing fresh water for
game in the dry months from July to December.
This migration flows from
the surrounding country of the Maasai Steppe, the Manyara and Lokisale
areas into Tarangire bringing in vast numbers of plains game to swell
the resident herds. An increasing number and variety
of game are becoming resident due to a number of factors making Tarangire
an all-year park. |
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This park is known for its
elephant, Baobab Trees, and bird-life. The elephant have become mainly
resident with large breeding herds of up to 400 in number concentrating in
the central area of the park at certain times of the year. Resident bull
elephants are to be found in the northern sector of the park.
Tarangire has the largest known
number of breeding species of birds in Tanzania. Both the exquisite
Fischer's and Black-cheeked Lovebirds are seen in large numbers and at
certain times of the year enormous flocks of Red-billed Quelea make their
presence known by sheer weight of numbers.
The secretive Lesser Kudu and
distinctively marked Fringed-Eared Oryx are two species rarely seen in
other parks and yet can be spotted with relative ease in Tarangire which
is an added bonus. They can be found mainly in the Sangaiwe and Kitibong
areas adjacent t the camp. Also the more regal Greater Kudu has been
sighted within a short distance of the camp. Again, another unusual
occurrence to have both Greater and Lesser Kudu existing side by side. Herds of Buffalo numbering
300-400 at times, are seen on their way to slake their considerable thirst
in the river. The sight of a large herd determinedly crossing a track is
always impressive. The park has a good cat
population with the three major species of lion, leopard, and cheetah
being well represented. |
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Rates:
 Please contact us for a suggested
itinerary and quote
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