Selous Explorer
- Office In:
- Size:
- 1-5 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Member Of:
- Tanzania Tourist Board
- Tour Types:
- Custom budget & mid-range tours that can start every day
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $135 to $1,500 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
DE
Email Sarah | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
8 amazing days full of animal sights, nice experiences and excellent food!
My boyfriend and I did an 8-day safari with Selous Explorer and can only recommend booking with them. Belonging to the group of spontaneous travellers, we didn't book neither our flights nor the actual safari 6 months in advance like - as we learned - other people seem to do. Nevertheless, we wanted to get a first quote before we started our trip and requested prices with several safari companies some days in advance. Selous Explorer was one of the quickest to reply and additionally one of the most responsive and competitive ones. They offered the exact trip we were looking for and unlike most others operators in the perfect and most efficient order to maximise game driving: Mikumi National Park, Ruaha National Park and Selous Game Reserve.
We decided to book with Selous and texted the owner, Norbert, one day before we arrived in Dar-es-Salaam. During the flight to Tanzania I was afraid maybe this was too short notice and we will have to wait in Dar until the start of the safari. Instead we were picked up at the airport by a friend of Norbert against no extra charge. But this was not the only positive surprise that day when also our driver, Nestor, stopped by at our hotel later that day in order to welcome us and introduce himself. The next morning, we were picked up a 100% in time by Nestor and our personal cook, Benson - a man full of smiles and good spirit!
We could realise on the first Game Drive that our driver guide Nestor is on of the better and experienced ones: While all the others decided to leave a scene after some minutes, we got to see a lion hunt exclusively by our own on 10 meters distance. We learned a lot from Nestor and got to see as many scenes and animal as possible. Unfortunately, as it turned out traveling in December Ruaha is not at its best as the is rainy season has already progressed and a lot of animals are spread throughout the park. But still, Nestor did his very best and showed a lot of endurance while driving us through the whole park from a to z in order to go to all animal’s territories. Wildlife highlights certainly include numerous lion hunts, lions and giraffe mating, baby lion cups, a group of 15 wild dogs and countless elephants, giraffes, zebras and hippos.
Benson, our cook, made sure that we gained 3 kilos during 8 days as he was preparing amazing food every day but thanks to him we got to know some traditional Tanzanian recipes. In Mikumi and in Ruaha we stayed within the Park sleeping with lions, elephants and giraffes. The bandas and camps were of good standard with own bath rooms and mosquito nets. Unfortunately, in Selous we stays outside of the park but the camp was really nice.
Only one small recommendation: Ask for both the Boat and Walking Safari in Selous to be swapped against extra game drive. Both our conducted outside of the actual Game Reserve and you cannot see much besides birds and lizards. This is not operator specific however.
Altogether we can only recommend to book with Selous Explorer.
FR
Email Francois Malterre | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great time in Mikumi and Zaanali National Parks
Me and my daughter had a great great great experience with Selous for our 3 day safari tour in Mikumi and Zaanali, from DES
Selous very fast on responding to emaisl when organizing the trip.
Everything as described: driver on time at DES Airport when we landed. Brought us to the Airport Hotel. Safari guide on time the day after to bring us to Mikumi. Very knowledgeable about the region, the people, locations and anmals. Was lucky enough to find 8 lions starting a hunt and we were right in the middle. Great time in Zaanali too, including the river boat and the hippos And our luck: nobody else in none of the 2 parks, felt like in a private safari, with private driver and chef. Back safe on time in DES, a great gerat experience. Thanks again to the 3 of you, Nestor, Norbert and the Chef.
SI
Email Tomaz Stritar | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
great experience - I recommend it
I took 1 day visit to Mikumi and it was unforgettable. Nesto - guide was great. He pick me up on time and told me a lot about national park and Tanzania in general. He was very friendly and a very good driver. I recommend Selous agency!
SE
Email Hanna and Dominic | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
8-day safari trip which exceeded our expectations
We did an 8-day safari trip to the south of Tanzania (Mikumi, Ruaha, Selous). We really enjoyed the safari trip and it exceeded our expectations. Everything was taken care of by our guide and our personal chef (which we did not expect to have). The only thing that we had to think about was taking photos and watching the animals. You really come up close to the animals. We had a private safari, just the two of us.
We recommend to visit the southern parks for those of you which do not like to see many other tourists. The whole area feels really authentic and genuine. All the accomodations were clean and very fine. In Mikumi and Ruaha we stayed within the parks which we recommend to do - in order to get the early morning and the late afternoon safaris. In Selous we stayed right outside of the park entrance. We also did a boat and a walking safari. If you are short of time, we recommend to skip the walking safari and instead do a classic car safari.
The guide was really experienced and had great knowledge about the animals and their behaviour. The guide was very motivated and happily shared his knowledge with us, also about the local people. We had a lot of questions and not a single one was unanswered! The guide had great English skills.
The chef cocked really nice food and managed to make meals with high variation each day using locally bought ingredients. We further liked the fact that Selous explorer thought a little bit extra about the local people and the environment - e.g. we bought fresh fruits directly from farms next to the road, we ate lunch in a restaurant where disabled people were working and fabricated crafts etc.
We can highly recommend to travel to Tanzania and to do your safari trip with Selous explorer.
//Hanna and Dominic
Short 3 day safari to Mikumi Tanzania.
Whilst spending a couple of weeks in Zanzibar we decided to book up a in-expensive Safari. We found Selous Explorer on Safari Bookings after typing in a search for a 3 day, 2 night safari. 2 companies caught my eye as they were both the same price. We have 2 children aged 7 & 9 so didn't want to go for a really expensive option as we just wanted to them to see Africa's large animals in the wild.
The itinerary that Norbert came back to us with was just about right as we had booked flights from Zan into Dar. It was a 5hr journey though from the airport to Mikumi (made worse by the poor quality road surface) but broken up with a meal part way at a local buffet place. Our driver Nestor was spot on with information on every aspect of our 3 days. When he said that he would pick us up at our lodge at a certain time he was there to the second. We felt that he tried his very best to make sure that we packed the most into the Safari. Mikumi is one of the least recognised parks & thus was not busy at all. It does not have the wealth of animals that other parks do & the main road running through the middle is a crazy situation as this does lead to fatalities as there are many lorries that go thundering past.
I would suggest that like us if you want a non expensive way of seeing some of Africa's finest animals & you are in Dar or Zanzibar then this is the one for you.
AE
Email Joe | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great experience for 2 days in Mikumi.
I choose Selous due to their great reviews and can only confirm. Upfront communication with Norbert was perfect, any question was answered fully. The pick up was on time, very kind driver Sajjid. Then after the nice lunch in Morogoro, we proceeded to the park. It was great, with only two cars in the entire park and we had our private safari. Our driver was excellent. Very knowledgeable and friendly. He brought us to the most remote corners of the park in order to ensure that all animals are seen by us - which happened. Next morning we were picked up very early to enjoy the sunrise. Again, a great day on safari. Afternoon the ride back to DES. Overall great experience and very happy with the service. Thanks Selous Explorers.
Amazing experience, amazing staff!
From the moment we were collected from our apartment in dar to our return, we were given only the best hospitality. After our arrival, our guide unfortunately fell unwell, but there was another guide assigned to us very quickly who was very knowledgeable and saw to our every need. His name was Henrik and he waited on us and guided us on our safari. He made sure that we had seen everything we had set out to and had an absolute wealth of knowledge. Our walking safari was sensational and the bushman didi was brilliant. He made it feel like a true wilderness experience, both thrilling and humourous. Our accommodation at hippocamp was breathtaking, from the veiw o the sunset to the starry sky. We would definitely recommend them, only wish that we had longer!
Email Petra | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Nice experience in Mikumi
We booked the 3 days Mikumi safari and had a great experience. Contact and communication with Norbert was excellent prior to the safari start and we got picked up as promised and on time. The driver/guide drove carefully, planned in for enough toilet breaks on the way.
The game drives were absolutely great, and we saw all you can possibly see in Mikumi. Our guide Otto did a good mix of driving and breaks and explications (and adapted very fast onto what we wanted to see in particular) and he did always respect "good practice for wildlife tourism" (we saw many exemples of guides in the park who didn't and chased the animals with the cars). Otto was very knowledgeable, answered to all questions, but was sometimes a bit too quiet and sparing of words during explications (but still better than someone trying to entertain you non-stop).
Food was perfectly organised: my friend and I were worried about prepared lunch packages since we have both special diet requirements, but we always stopped at restaurants and we were able to choose from the menu - especially the stop at the lodge in the park sitting close to a water source and watching the animals, was amazing.
Overall we had a great experience and can recommend to the fullest going with Selous Explorer.
IE
Email Denka | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Fabulous
Thank you to the team of Selous Explorer-Norbert-the man in the office -great communication via e-mails,reasonable prices, trustful. Thanks to Nestor- our driver and guide, did his best to show us everything even the lions...amazing...highly recommended .Thank you once again...wish all the best
AE
Email Alena | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Private safari for 2 for 1 day. Excellent service and experienced driver!
We took 1 day safari to Mikumi for 2 people.
The communication with Norbert through emails was clear and fast.
The driver Nestor took us from our hotel in Dar es Salam at 5:00 am (on time) and brought us to Mikumi National Park. He transfered his jeep into Game car and we started safari. Nestor was telling us information about animals and showed all the animals to us. We were very close to them - 1-2 meters.
In the middle of our safari tour we had lunch, which was really tasty! A special "thanks" for this.
After lunch we continued with our safari. After safari Nestor brought us back to our hotel in Dar es Salam at 8:50pm.
We are really satisfied with the service and the driver. Thank you so much, Selous Explorer!