Nyerere (Selous) National Park

Game Viewing on demand

When we arrived at the airstrip in the Selous and met our guide for the weekend, he asked, "what do you hope to see while you are in the Selous?" Being a veteran game park visitor, I aimed high...my response...wild dogs. He laughed and said, "we don't see those very often." We sent off for the camp, intending to do a bit of game viewing en route.

About halfway through the trip to the camp, we saw some vultures circling and thought we would follow them to see if there was anything interesting. Soon we came across a pack of 4 adult wild dogs who had just finished eating their share of an impala they had brought down. They were engaging in all their post feast rituals (wild dog aficionados will know what I mean), while a nearby hyena took over the carcass, continuing to force the vultures to wait their turn. We watched this game-scape play itself out for a while- the hyena got fed up fending off the large birds alone and eventually tore off a hunk of carcass for himself, and left the bulk of it behind for the vultures to fight over. I am not sure how long we sat there- could have been a few minutes, could have been all afternoon- we were mesmerized. When the dogs were gone and the hyena was gone, it seemed time for us to move on as well. Our guide then, with a grin on his face, said, “okay, I found some wild dogs for you, what would you like to see next.” Without skipping a beat, I responded, “mating lions.” He laughed, and off we went.

We probably drove only another 5-10 minutes when we came upon a pride of lions- 3 adult females, each with cubs; a total of 7 cubs, of varying ages. Wow, this safari was only getting better. For quite a while, we watched these cubs frolic and play, as their mothers dozed, but it was getting late and lunch was waiting, so we pushed on to the lodge.

As we approached the lodge, not more that 300 meters from the gate, we came across the mating lions. It was spectacular. We watched them for nearly an hour, forgetting all about lunch. The remarkable anthropomorphic behavior- she nudges him, “come on dear”, he grunts, gets up, walks around her, mounts, nuzzles her in the ear, she complains, he gets off and flops on the other side of her, in a state of exhaustion and she rolls over on her back, as if to say, “if I put my legs up in the air like this, I think I am more likely to get pregnant.” It was fascinating!

And all of this was just on our way to the lodge!

An all-around African experience.

Landing on a dirt airstrip is a great way to land into this beautiful reserve. Immediately you are greeted by your personal guide, who takes you first thing on a game drive to your lodge, or in my case, the Manze Lake Camp. My experience went as follows: we told our guide that we wanted to see wild dogs. 20 minutes later, they were there laying in front of us. The lodge itself was excellent, you have a personal chalet, the food was served family style and tasted great. The next day we told our tour guide that we wanted to see mating lions. Again, 10 minutes later, they were there in front of us. This whole idea of seeing anything you want, sums up Selous Game Reserve. It is a magical place with great wildlife, food, and hospitality. If I could suggest one thing, it would be to go in the month of june, july, august, when it is colder there, any other time is very hot.

We booked a three day safari at Selous Game Reerve with Hippocamp adventure rufiji river and we spent one of the best moments in our life.
Everything was perfect: the agency, the camp, the wildlife, food, transportation, and specially the guide who was the best who could have to live the great expérience.

He wasn't only a guide. He was always availabe and wanted to be sure that every minutes of out trip was good for us.
He constantly get managed to find all animals to satisfy us.
He was helpfully, always smiling and very professionnal.
We were very sad to leave him after three days.
Donatus was very reactive by email to give us all informations from France before the safari.
Mickael picked up us at the hotel at Dar es Salam with the 4×4 and we drove directly to the camp during 6 hours.
And we arrived, we have been welcomed by the staff.
All food and water is including expect soft drinks and alcohool.
The first day we made a boat safari on the rufiji river during 2 hours. There, we met hippos, crocodiles and a lot of birds.
The sunset was beautiful.
The day after, we made the safari in the reserve near the camp. We spent all the day from 8 am to 6pm.
We saw girafes, hippos, waldos, crocodiles, elephants, zebras, antilopas , birds, monkeys, lions, buffalos.
The landscapes were so beautiful that you have the feeling to be on another planet.
The last day, very early in the morning, we did a walking safari with a traditional hunter, Didi. It was an amazing meeting. Very impressive and unforgettable.
After the safari, we spendt 7 days at Zanzibar, so the agency was very nice to book the tickets boats and to leave us at the port.
The bungalow where we spendt 2 nights was very clean and confortable.
The electricity is cut off the night from 10 pm to 7 am.
To conclude, it was a big experience for all of us and we are glad to have it in these conditions and with this agency.

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

Just a beautiful spot

We Saw Elephant , Lions (2 females 1 male) Giraffes , Zebra group, Gnu Group , hippopotamus , baby crocodile , The birds of pride, Gazelle, Monkey's,

Birds mostly go unnoticed because of big game. The birds are amazing here. There are no rhinos or cheetah.

Everything we expected, wished for, and more. So lovely and just about the animals and your experience.

lovely landscape, many animals, quiet

Wild and wonderful

This was the first park of our multi-day safari tour in southern Tanzania, and we enjoyed it tremendously. The first day we were treated to a boat tour near our accommodations at the Selous River Lodge, and we were able to see a great variety of birds (kingfishers, weavers, bee-eaters) as well as crocodiles (baby and adult) and hippos. At night, we could hear hippos grunting from our hut, and we saw at least two kinds of monkeys in the trees outside the hut. During the two days of driving in the reserve, we saw giraffes, buffalo, many birds, warthogs, impalas, water bucks, hippos, and so much more. We enjoyed some breakfast and lunch with our wonderful driver at relaxing spots in the park, and over the course of two days we saw very few people. It was just as wild and wonderful as we had dreamed, and we would go back in a heartbeat.