Nyerere (Selous) National Park

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 Game Reserve is one of Africa's best kept secrets. It is exspansive, pristine and breathtakin

Selous being the size of Switzerland is populated with no more than 170 people, we felt we were right in the heart of Africa, we felt privileged to experience the vastness of this untouched land.
Everything we experienced in Selous was second to none.

African Wilderness At Its Best

I stayed at the Rufiji River Camp which is one of the smaller camps in Selous. The proximity to the river meant we had the opportunity for a river safari and a walking safari as well as the traditional trips out on a 4x4.

Selous is wonderfully remote and we hardly saw another vehicle which in my opinion is the best way to experience a safari. The guides were good and spotted a lot of wildlife we may well have missed. The number of lakes meant there was always the chance to see wildlife and birdlife around there. We didn't see all the Big 5 but there were no rhino in the area where we stayed.

I loved my short stay in Tanzania and I will be going back.

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.