Nyerere (Selous) National Park

Gorgeous scenery, great wildlife, and uncrowded areas!

My friend and I spent two weeks on a safari tour of southern Tanzania with Wildness Safari. Selous Game Reserve was the last stop on our itinerary and we spent a total of 4 days in the area.

We stayed at the Hippo Camp which was a short 15 minute drive from the entrance to the Selous Game Reserve, making it a nice base for our safari trips.

Selous Game Reserve is an untouched wilderness giving you the sense of being in "real Africa", and in my opinion, was the most beautiful reserve in the southern circuit of Tanzania, with it's gorgeous grassy plains, lush tropical areas, acacia woodlands, and the meandering Rufiji River that runs through the reserve.

Selous Game Reserve is such a vast area, so we sometimes spent hours driving around looking for the animals. While the wildlife population density isn't as high as it is in northern Tanzania, we still saw loads of animals including lions, elephants, giraffes, wildebeest, impala, hartebeest, greater kudu, zebras, buffalos, warthogs, hippos and crocodiles. Unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to see any leopards, rhinos or wild dogs during our safaris, but it gives me an excuse to go back there one day. Our guide, Rajab, from Wildness Safari, was incredibly knowledgeable and informative during our safari tour, and I honestly think we would have missed out on so much had we opted to do a self-drive safari instead. His guiding skills were invaluable during the entire trip, and it felt like we had our own personal guidebook with us.

One of the drawcards of Selous Game Reserve was the fact that it wasn't very crowded, and it often felt like we were the only ones in the reserve as we could drive for hours without seeing another vehicle. This provided us with a great opportunity for unlimited viewing times with the wildlife.

I would definitely recommend booking a boat cruise along the Rufiji River and a walking safari tour while in Selous if you have the time, as this was a highlight of the trip for me.

I highly recommend a trip to Selous Game Reserve during your time in Tanzania!

My visit occurred at the end of January when the temperatures reached 98 degrees. The shaded pool at Rufiji River Camp was a welcome respite from the heat as was the cooling breeze created by our safari vehicle. Vervet monkeys rule the camp. Pay respect to the alpha male with the blue scrotum! The best predator viewing is in the Lake Manze area where I spotted a hyena with a fresh wildebeest leg in its jaws. Birding is excellent and crocs are everywhere. One person in camp saw a crocodile take down a buffalo!

Great family safari including big 5 and river safari

For us it was the opportunity to do a river safari that attracted us to the Selous and our trip up the Rufiji River was a nice change from game drives. The game drives were also excellent with very few other vehicles on the road and they are allowed to go off road which is great fun and allows you to get close to the wildlife. This is not allowed at some other parks. We were lucky to see elephants, lions, hippos and a leopard. There are some spectacular birds too. We stayed at the Serena Selous Camp which we would recommend. Accommodation is in luxury tents and there is a spectacular bar/restaurant/deck which overlooks a watering hole that hippos frequent. The service was attentive but unaffected and the staff even let our boys join in their daily football match. The food was excellent and we had no side effects. Another unexpected bonus of the Selous is that there are no mosquitoes which is one less thing to worry about. The weather was pleasant and not too hot in the last week of August.

I think this has been my favorite park so far. Hellish drive on a loooong, bumpy dirt road in order to get there, but the place is remote and there are few visitors. One can see a very wide variety of wildlife, including birds.

The Selous is huge and not visited as much as northern parks that can be very crowded at certain times and certain areas. We had wonderful experiences of big lion prides, large elephant herds and huge buffalo herds interacting. Lodges are excellent.

Too beautiful

3-Days safari

amazing experience for a short trip. communication was good and our Driver/guider was friendly and very knowledgeable. we saw many animals lions, elephants, girraffes et-cetera. Our experience was good and plan to come back next year.

Amazing wildlife in a lush waterworld

The Selous Game Reserve is a vast wilderness conservation area just South of Dar Es Salaam. The 30-minutes flights that leaves Dar for the park is managed by Coastal Aviation, one of the best airlines in the whole continent.
We stayed at Lake Manze lodge, managed by Essential Destinations and our stay was just perfect. The food was incredibly creative and never boring (especially considering the remoteness of the location), the management was extremely professional in making our stay memorable and keep us busy for the 2.5 days that we spent over there. The lodge organizes both jeep safaris as well as short but interesting walking safaris, fishing trips and, what is probably the most delightful experience of all, a boat safari on the lake at sunrise or sunset. Our guides were funny, professional, experienced and they too contributed in making our trip one to remember.

Great birds and hippos on the Rufiji River, a highly entertaining and informative safari walk with Ndidi, and so many lovely animals in the Reserve. A great start to our trip, only surpassed by Mikumi.

Selious is big wild territory with wild roads, is more naturally, more real as I like.