TANAPA Special & Fly Campsites
Exclusive-use bush camping · Undeveloped exclusive-use sites across the park, including Rufiji sandbanks · Tanzania National Parks
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of TANAPA Special & Fly Campsites yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Budget
Inside the park
Park-run (TANAPA)
Special, seasonal and fly campsites are undeveloped sites reserved for a single group, and they are how the top-end camps run their nights out on a Rufiji sandbank. Everything is carried in and carried out, and the site has to be booked before you arrive rather than claimed at the gate. The tariff also carries a rest house and a group hostel line for Nyerere that TANAPA does not promote, and a twenty-room rest house was reported under construction at Mtemere in 2025.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Your group has the site entirely to itself
- Fly camping on a Rufiji sandbank, the main draw
- Low season rate of $50 plus VAT, October to June
- A 20-room rest house was reported under construction in 2025
- Your money goes straight to the park authority
Cons
- No facilities at all; carry everything in and out
- Must be booked in advance, not taken on arrival
- High season rate rises to $60 plus VAT, July to September
- Park entry fee of $70 a day comes on top
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Nyerere National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$70 plus 18% VAT, charged per 24 hours.
- $82.6per person, per day
- Vehicle$40 plus VAT for a foreign-registered vehicle up to 2,000 kg; above that, where most safari 4x4s sit, it is $150 plus VAT.
- $47.2per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $637.2 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
The full fee schedule for Nyerere National ParkRates at TANAPA Special & Fly Campsites
$59.00 pppn. Special and seasonal campsites are $50 plus VAT from October to June and $60 plus VAT from July to September; fly campsites are $59.00 including VAT and must be booked in advance. The same tariff lists a Nyerere rest house at $35.40 and a hostel bed at $11.80 for organised groups, neither of which TANAPA actually markets.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Indicative 2026 rates gathered in July 2026 from operators' own rate cards, and from the best third-party sources where an operator publishes nothing at all. No published rate means 'on request'. Always confirm with the property. Two things shift the real comparison in this park. First, park fees are extra almost everywhere: a camp inside the boundary carries the $82.60 conservation fee plus a $59.00 to $70.80 concession fee per adult per night, both including VAT, and most in-park camps bundle these into an all-inclusive rate while the camps outside the gate charge entry, boat and walking fees separately on the days you go in. Second, ignore any camp still advertising night game drives: they are not permitted inside the national park since the 2019 regazettement. Names you may still find in older guides but that we do not list: Azura Selous, which appears permanently closed, plus Selous Kulinda, Ol Moran, Jimbiza Lodge, Selous Great Water, Selous Mbuyu, Selous Mapumziko, The Retreat Selous and Amara Selous, none of which we could verify as currently trading.
Questions about TANAPA Special & Fly Campsites
How much does it cost to book a TANAPA special or fly campsite in Nyerere?
Special and seasonal campsites cost $50 plus VAT from October to June and $60 plus VAT from July to September, while fly campsites are a flat $59.00 including VAT, according to the official tariff. The park entry fee of $70 for an adult, or $20 for a child, is charged on top.
How do you book a TANAPA special or fly campsite?
These sites must be reserved in advance rather than taken on arrival, since each one is exclusive to a single group at a time, according to the park record. Payments run through TANAPA's GePG electronic gateway, the same system used for the public campsites, and cash is not accepted at the gate.
Can you self-drive to a TANAPA special or fly campsite?
Yes. These are road-accessed through Mtemere or Matambwe gate, the same route used for the public campsites, and TANAPA's own park page confirms road access into Nyerere, though it calls it a long dry-season drive. Expect the roads to be far harder going outside the dry months.
What facilities do TANAPA's special and fly campsites have?
None. These are undeveloped sites with no facilities at all, by the park record's own description, so a group carries everything in and takes it all out again. The same tariff lists a Nyerere rest house and a hostel bed for groups, but TANAPA does not actually market either one.