Nyerere (Selous) National Park

Dreamy Escape into the bush

We participated in a three day safari at Selous, organized by Kanuth Adventure Safaris. Kanuth Staff picked up us from our hotel, they were kind, helpful, appreciative of our business and fair priced. The drive from the city to the park was beautiful and exciting, an adventure in itself. We stayed at Hippo Camp, which was a lovely camp, just outside the park gates. We stayed in a lovely tree house right on the rufiji river, it was much like "glamping". The park was extraordinary. It was remote and beautiful. It was rainy while we were there, but honestly the experience was so dreamy, it wasn't too upsetting. We chose Selous over the Northern circuit because we were looking for something a bit off the beaten track. We wanted to immerse ourselves in vastness of the land, away from "tourists". We knew there was a risk in doing so, as we heard the wildlife sightings were less of a guarantee at Selous. But we were very lucky. Our guide was wonderful. We spent all day driving around the park, seeing everything we could have hoped to see. The only other humans we saw were the two other jeeps we entered the park with, from our camp. It was truly lovely. I highly recommend this park. One thing I might say when booking a package-- we were sold a boat safari, jeep safari and "walking safari". The walking safari, was a bush walk that took place outside of the park. While it was lovely, we felt mislead. There were some travelers who received an actual walking safari inside the park. Just be sure to receive clarification on this. Other than that piece everything was a dream. Cheers.

Interesting reserve to see if you have been to other traditional reserves.

For us Selous Game Reserve had two major advantages compared to other more popular reserves: Less tourists and different landscape. Unfortunately we went there in january, so the animal life was a bit poor at that time. But that was okey, since we saw most of the animals we wanted to see, but not so many of each kind. For example, we saw three lions, not thirty.
The walking safari was very interesting, too, and we had a really good guide.

Selous Game Reserve is a marvelous place to visit without masstourism hassle.

I visited Selous Game Reserve at the end of September 2011. Selous is a wonderful safari place where you can almost on your own move around and see lots of wild animals. In our safaris we saw only few other vehicles in the area. Selous Wildlife Lodge is excellent place to stay. Service is luxury, food, "tents" and people. Location is a minor problem, you have to drive quite far to see the "big ones". We managed to see lots of lions, elephants, impalas, giraffes, hippos and crocodiles. I recommend Selous to all safarilovers. And if you are in a honeymoon... go to Selous Wildlife Lodge, they sure know how to make your honeymoon unforgettable.

I fear the park will lose its wilderness since they built this big roads....

The Selous was great-less touristy than other reserves, with just a focus on seeing amazing animals

We really liked our safari in the Selous Reserve - we were able to enjoy both river boat and traditional jeep safaris. It was great that everything was so open and natural - we had elephants wondering past our tent every night and even had a cheeky monkey attempt to join us for breakfast. The reserve has a lot less people than others - some days we didn't see anybody else except our driver.

not as many animals but wonderfully relaxed and lovely area

Completely different to the northern parks of Tanzania

Selous isnt a National Park like the famous Serengeti with all the almost tame animals, therefore its kind of boring or even un-expected in the beginning when you see shy Zebras or Giraffes running away from Safari visitiors even when they are fare away (like 100m and more). But then, you'll end up with a more natural feeling - it's interesting to see big groups of Giraffes running scared ... but the thing I liked at most was that in the Selous you can stop the car, get out, have a walk, picnic or whatever. The drivers go whereever the car is able to go through the bush - and that makes the experience, because you're much closer to animals like Elephants or even the Wild Dogs. In general its not really touristy, so everything feels more like an expected bush adventure. Ah, and for me the flight in small plane was an "adventure" as well. So i'll recommend the Selous (afterwards) in combination with e.g. the Serengeti.

Selous is awesome. You can drive off the road. During a safari day you bump into all vehicles in Selous. That is about 10 4x4's. Make sure you have an awesome driver / guide / tracker. We had the best, tracking down leopard trails as he drove. Few vast plains, more shrub and dense (and dry) vegetation and some lakes. Wildlife is not so much habituated to humans as in other parks. Selous makes Ngorongoro your local European drive through safari zoo. You really track down animals for a true bush vibe and wildlife experience. Unique wildlife as well: wild dogs. Lucky enough to see a rare event in Selous: a leopard with young walking around closeby. Less wildlife density you will observer, but compensated by the awesome experience and unique events.