Nyerere National Park Airstrips

Nyerere National Park is reached by a network of small bush airstrips rather than one central airport, and the main ones are Mtemere, Siwandu, Beho Beho, Matambwe, Selous Mbuyu, Kiba, Sumbazi and Stiegler’s Gorge. Most fly in safari guests land at the strip closest to their camp after a short scheduled flight from Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar or Arusha. Nyerere, the former Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania, is the country’s largest park, split by the Rufiji River into a northern tourism zone where these strips sit.

The reason there are so many strips is simple geography. Nyerere covers more than 30,000 square kilometres, and driving in from the coast eats up most of a day on rough roads. A flying safari turns that into a scenic hop of under an hour. Each camp along the Rufiji lakes and channels has grown up around its own nearest airstrip, so the one you use is decided less by the map and more by where you are sleeping that night. Get the pairing right and the transfer is ten minutes in an open vehicle. Get it wrong and you can add an hour of bumpy road you never needed.

Mtemere Airstrip: The Busiest Fly In Safari Gateway

Mtemere airstrip is the most used strip in the park and the default landing point for a Nyerere flying safari. It sits in the eastern part of the northern zone, near the Mtemere park gate, at roughly 07 45S 038 12E. Scheduled flights from Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar drop most of their Nyerere passengers here before hopping on to quieter strips deeper in the park.

The camps around Mtemere are among the closest to any airstrip in Tanzania. Transfer to Rufiji River Camp takes about ten minutes by road, and the run to Nyerere Tented Camp comes in under fifteen. That short hop matters more than it sounds, because a game drive transfer in the late afternoon light often produces the first hippo pods and waterbuck of the trip before you have even checked in. Guests here tend to be paired with boat safaris on the Rufiji, so landing at Mtemere puts you within easy reach of the river channels the region is known for.

Siwandu Airstrip: Landing Beside the Lake Safari Circuit

Set on the shores of Lake Nzerakera in the northern section of the park, Siwandu airstrip serves the lake based camps at the heart of the Nyerere safari circuit. Its coordinates are 7 41S 38 08E, and it carries a runway of around 1,200 metres, long enough for the light aircraft that work these routes. The strip mainly serves Siwandu camp, one of the older and better known lodges in the reserve, sitting among a string of five interconnected lakes.

Landing at Siwandu puts you right in the water world that makes this park different from the northern Tanzania parks. The five lakes draw elephant, hippo and big crocodile, plus the wild dogs the reserve is noted for. Because the strip sits so close to the lake camps, the transfer is short and often doubles as the first drive of your safari. Wild dog sightings are never guaranteed, but the Nyerere population is one of the largest left in Africa, and the lake circuit is a reasonable place to look for them.

Beho Beho Airstrip: The Private Strip for a Hillside Safari

Beho Beho airstrip sits inland in the higher, cooler country away from the river, at roughly S 07 40E 037 55. It works almost exclusively for guests of Beho Beho camp, a long established lodge set on a breezy ridge rather than beside the water. The name itself refers to the wind that moves through this raised ground, which keeps the camp a few degrees cooler than the riverside lodges.

This is a good example of why the airstrip you choose is tied to the camp. Beho Beho lies away from the lakes, so flying into Mtemere or Siwandu would leave you with a long cross country transfer. The dedicated strip cuts that to a short drive and opens up the walking safaris and hot spring visits the area is known for. A fly in safari to Beho Beho suits travellers who want a drier, more elevated base with a different feel from the Rufiji camps.

Matambwe Airstrip: The Northern Sector Tour Access Point

Matambwe airstrip, listed under the code SE3, sits at the northwestern edge of the tourism zone and acts as a gateway for camps in that corner of the park. It serves both the old Selous designation and the Nyerere park, and scheduled aircraft use it as one of their hop points on the loop through the reserve.

Matambwe tends to be paired with camps in the western and central northern sector, so it is worth confirming with your operator whether your lodge draws from Matambwe or from Mtemere further east. The two strips sit on opposite sides of the northern zone, and mixing them up is one of the more common transfer errors on a Nyerere flying safari. For guests staying toward the Beho Beho and Sand Rivers side of the park, Matambwe often shortens the road leg considerably.

Selous Mbuyu Airstrip: A Private Landing for a Remote Camp Safari

Selous Mbuyu airstrip is a private strip with its own helipad, serving the camps in the central reserve. It sits about a 45 minute flight from Dar es Salaam, and it is the closest landing point to Roho ya Selous, with a transfer of roughly fifteen to twenty minutes from strip to camp. Having a private strip and helipad means guests here avoid the shared hop pattern of the scheduled network when a charter is arranged.

Roho ya Selous sits between the lakes and the wider plains, so this strip opens up both boat and driving safaris. The short transfer keeps arrival simple, and because the strip is not a busy scheduled hub, the first drive in tends to be quiet. For a fly in safari that leans toward privacy, Selous Mbuyu is one of the more appealing options in the northern zone.

Kiba Airstrip: The Deep Wilderness Sand Rivers Safari Strip

Kiba airstrip, code SE2, serves the remote western camps built along the Rufiji, chiefly Kiba Point and Sand Rivers Selous. Daily flights reach Kiba from Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Ruaha and the northern Tanzania parks, which makes it a useful link when guests combine Nyerere with a wider Tanzania safari circuit rather than flying only from the coast.

Sand Rivers is one of the older luxury camps in the reserve, set on a rocky bend of the river with wide views over the water. Kiba sits deep enough into the park that the flight in gives a real sense of the reserve’s scale, with the braided channels of the Rufiji unrolling below. Landing here places you well inside the wilderness, away from the busier eastern strips, and close to the walking and boating that these western camps build their safaris around.

Sumbazi and Stiegler’s Gorge Airstrips for a Rufiji River Safari

Two more strips round out the network. Sumbazi airstrip lies within the reserve and serves camps such as The Retreat Selous, with scheduled connections from Arusha, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Ruaha. Stiegler’s Gorge airstrip, code STG, sits near the dramatic gorge where the Rufiji narrows and drops, and it serves the Serena camps in that part of the park including the Mivumo River Lodge.

Stiegler’s Gorge is a landmark in its own right, a deep cut in the river valley that gives its name to the strip and to nearby camps. Guests landing here are usually within reach of both the gorge scenery and the river channels below it. As with every strip in Nyerere, the value of Sumbazi or Stiegler’s comes down to matching it to the camp you have booked, so a quick check with your operator before ticketing saves an awkward transfer later.

How Scheduled Fly In Safari Flights Hop Between the Airstrips

Getting to Nyerere works differently from a point to point flight. Auric Air, Coastal Aviation, Safari Air Link and Regional Air run daily scheduled services from Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Arusha, and a single flight usually touches down at several strips in turn. The aircraft lands, drops and picks up passengers, then lifts off for the next strip, a pattern operators call hopping. Your time in the air depends on how many of these hops sit between the coast and your camp.

The straight flying distance from Dar es Salaam to the park is around 45 minutes to an hour, and Zanzibar is roughly an hour. Most airlines run a morning and an afternoon rotation, with the same aircraft turning back toward the coast after each loop. Morning departures from Dar tend to leave between about 10:00 and 11:00, with afternoon flights around 14:00 to 15:00. Because of the hopping, your actual door to camp time can stretch beyond the raw flying time, which is another reason landing at the strip nearest your camp pays off.

Dry Strips, All Weather Gravel and Seasonal Access for Your Safari

The airstrips in Nyerere are gravel, and most are described as all weather, meaning flights can keep running through the long rains rather than shutting outright. That said, the practical picture is shaped by the camps more than the runways. The heavy rains fall between roughly January and April, when parts of the road network turn to mud and many premium camps close from around March through May for the wet season.

So while a strip may stay open on paper, the camp you were aiming for might be shut, and the ground transfer from strip to camp can become the weak link when tracks flood. The dry months from June to October are when the strips, the camps and the game viewing all line up, water levels drop and animals gather along the shrinking channels. If you are set on a green season safari for the birdlife, confirm both that your camp is open and that its strip transfer holds up in the wet, since that short drive is what rain affects first.

Choosing and Getting to the Right Airstrip for Your Nyerere Safari

The nearest international gateway is Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, and nearly every Nyerere flying safari starts with a domestic hop from there or from Zanzibar. Some itineraries link the park with Ruaha or the northern parks, in which case strips like Kiba and Sumbazi that carry those connections become the sensible entry point. For most first time visitors, though, the pattern is a coast flight into Mtemere or Siwandu and a short drive to a riverside or lakeside camp.

The single decision that shapes the whole arrival is which camp you book, because the camp fixes the strip and the strip fixes the transfer. Once your lodge is confirmed, the strip choice usually follows on its own, and a good operator books the flight to match. Keep the pairing tight and the last leg of your safari is a ten minute drive into the bush. Get it loose and you inherit an hour of road the plane was supposed to save you.

Frequently Asked Questions About Nyerere National Park Airstrips