Nyerere (Selous) National Park

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

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.

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.

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.

Too beautiful

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.

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.

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.

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!

Selous and Tanzania

I spent my first 35 years in Tanzania and have visited just about every park in Tanzania, but one of my Favourites is the Selous Game Reserve.

The Selous is the Largest Game reserve in all of Africa, named after the great explorer Frederik Courtney Selous, who is incidentally, buried in the park at a grave site that can be visited by guests in the reserve.

The Photographic area of the Selous is in the northern part of the park, spanning about 3000sq km. The area is mostly flat and steady at about 50-60m above sea level. This means that the Rufiji River which runs through the park is slow and wide, producing a constant water source, which is great for wildlife! The park is located in the southern Safari circuit of Tanzania which is much less visited by tourists, which means no crowds and a much more authentic and pleasant experience.

Game is plentiful in the Selous. The climate and miombo style woodland isn't suited to some, but all the main players are here in abundance. Most noteworthy however is that the Selous is home to the largest population of wild dogs, by a long way, in the world. Sightings are recorded every single season of these beautiful animals, and the best times to see them are just after the rains in november/december. Dens get flooded with water which makes the animals move.

The Selous is also the best place to experience boat Safaris and see the wildlife that lives in and around the River. For keen birders this is an experience not to be missed.

I stayed at Selous Impala Camp, www.selousimpalacamp.com . The camp is rated the best in selous by trip advisor, and is said to have the best guiding of anywhere in the Selous. If you have a more conservative budget then you could stay at Lake Manze camp which is also excellent. In truth it doesn't really matter where you stay as long as you stay inside the reserve, but every time I go to the park I stay in one of these two properties. If I'm feeling adventurous then I will stay with Authentic Tanzania Safaris www.authentictanzaniasafaris.com where I can tailor make my own Safaris, staying in a mobile camp.

Be wary of any camps outside of the reserve. They may appear cheaper but a large portion of the cost will become apparent upon entering the park in the way of park fees, and they are no where near the same experience. They are located close to a village which scares away a lot of the animals, and destroys a bit of the ambiance of being in the bush. The game drives follow the same route every day for the first hour which is frustrating as you need to drive quite a long way before you get to the best areas.

Aside from all the animals and the incredible Natural beauty, the Selous is wonderful because it offers such a large variety of Safari activities. You can game drive for a full or half day, Walk, Boat or fly camp in the Selous. This means you are always doing something new and exciting and get the most out of your time in the Selous.

Tanzania is king of Safari destinations, and the Selous is a magnificent jewel in its crown, I cant recommend it enough to anyone who is interested in going on Safari. Here is a link to some of the pictures from my trip to Selous and Ruaha on flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskHCg42o