Nyerere (Selous) National Park

Splendid and variable scenery with great wildlife encounters

Altogether, we have spent around 3 weeks in Tanzania. After arrival to Dar Es-Salam, we have rented the cars and headed directly to Selous Game Reserve that took us around 6 hours to get. We have spent the night just outside the park in a beautiful lodge just next to the river. We have brought all the equipment like kitchen and sleeping tents with us, so we could sleep in the camps inside the park and be able to prepare the food. It was the beginning of November and spring was coming, it was quite hot already but we thought it would be perfect timing to go to Safari destinations. With the first rays of light, we have entered Selous Game Reserve Park, as we were planning to spend the night at the campsite inside the park, we had to bring a guide with us, and he was very friendly and with a lot of knowledge about the wildlife. He had spent the night with us in the camp, during the daytime we have done a few walks, and game drives. Almost for 3 days, we were driving around the park, which has a big variety of sceneries and as a consequence a lot of different wildlife.

Dreamy Escape into the bush

We participated in a three day safari at Selous, organized by Kanuth Adventure Safaris. Kanuth Staff picked up us from our hotel, they were kind, helpful, appreciative of our business and fair priced. The drive from the city to the park was beautiful and exciting, an adventure in itself. We stayed at Hippo Camp, which was a lovely camp, just outside the park gates. We stayed in a lovely tree house right on the rufiji river, it was much like "glamping". The park was extraordinary. It was remote and beautiful. It was rainy while we were there, but honestly the experience was so dreamy, it wasn't too upsetting. We chose Selous over the Northern circuit because we were looking for something a bit off the beaten track. We wanted to immerse ourselves in vastness of the land, away from "tourists". We knew there was a risk in doing so, as we heard the wildlife sightings were less of a guarantee at Selous. But we were very lucky. Our guide was wonderful. We spent all day driving around the park, seeing everything we could have hoped to see. The only other humans we saw were the two other jeeps we entered the park with, from our camp. It was truly lovely. I highly recommend this park. One thing I might say when booking a package-- we were sold a boat safari, jeep safari and "walking safari". The walking safari, was a bush walk that took place outside of the park. While it was lovely, we felt mislead. There were some travelers who received an actual walking safari inside the park. Just be sure to receive clarification on this. Other than that piece everything was a dream. Cheers.

The real thing, wild wildlife

We were 5 pers. going together on a gamedrive for one day arranged by "Along the River Camp". We were in an open LandRover from "Selous River Camp" with with an excelent driver and a trained guide. For me Selous is a fantastic place where You get very close to the wild nature without driving in a long row of cars. We met only two other cars this day so You really get the feeling of being in the middle of the wild-wild nature. I have been to the Reserve three times, and each time You a get different experience. This time we were fortunate to see the lions at close range and we surprised an elephant with a 3 days old baby, who tried to scare us off. Amazing. I believe Selous is the least spoiled game reserve, with fewer tourists than the renouned Serengeti, Ngorongoro but that is the essence of the visit. You only get to see a small part of one the worlds biggest nature reserves, but You are left with a very special feeling of being close to the real thing.

A Photographic Route to Game Park.

Selous is one of the largest game park of the world covering more than 54,000 Sq Kms, most of the park is reserved for Gaming ( I seriously hate that) and another large area from Mtemere Gate near Mloka village is reserved for photographic tour. Reaching the park by road is around 245 kms from Dar Es Salam Tanzania and by Air 30 mins to some specific camps.
Since its game park unlike national park animals can be seen very close and the animals does not have any boundary. I went to Selous twice September and again in October. From the entrance gate after we drove in side open safari cars and after 15 mins of drive was mesmerized by collection and density of the animals and variety of birds. Interesting part of Selous is after each 5 or 6 kms the topography changes sometimes is plain near the lake , other time red soil with white thorn bushes and again green large tree with paddy roads. I saw over all 34 lions with 4 different prides, was lucky to be watching them eating fresh hunt . Driver normally drive very close to them effectively a 300mm lens is sufficient enough to click lions, apart from lions giraffe, kudus, water buck, heartbeast, wilderbeast, different kinds of eagles, bee eaters etc was in plenty. Night can bit scary as starting from lion to hippo all was roaming near our camp. Some of the camps are too much luxury some are moderate but most of them are built on the bank of Rufiji River, hence morning walk near the boundary you will be able to see animals and birds easily. Most of the resorts switchoff the lights are 10 AM and is left with battery backups. Overall the best part of Selous are 1. Close proximity with animals, 2. Huge Collection of Animals. 3. Shoot as you like means you can even get down at a distance from the car and take worm height shot of an elephant 4. Support from the guides to take a good shot. I would any day recommend anyone to join Selous.

A wonderfully natural safari experience

We stayed for 4 nights at Azura Selous and had the most incredible time. Selous itself is a vast reserve, so we were fully appreciative of the fact that it may take longer to discover animals and they may be a bit more 'jumpy' around the 4x4's than in other parks - the upside to this is the fact that the whole safari just felt a lot more natural, when we did discover animals (and there are still a lot of wildlife about) it was great to hardly have any other vehicles around (often none at all) and there was a greater buzz when you did find them.

The accommodation (Azura) was fantastic, and we genuinely could not fault any aspect of it. The food, especially considering the remote location, was absolutely incredible.

I would not hesitate to come back here at the earliest opportunity, and I do wonder if we did choose a different park/reserve just whether it would feel as good - or if in fact it might have a slight zoo feel to it in comparison.

If I had to pick one minor irritation it would be the pockets of Tsetse fly about - although appreciate there isn't an easy solution to this and to be perfectly honest it isn't the end of the world as you do get used to it - plus there was always a can of insect spray to hand in the vehicles if needed.

beautiful destination with breathtaking scenery

Selous Game reserve is a beautiful destination with amazing wildlife and breathtaking views. Quite bushy so you really have to look for the animals but the views and nature is just gorgeous, the Hippo camp is very basic accommodation but the staff are very hospitable and friendly. Food was served daily and was tasty and well cooked. Our ranger Emmenuel was so kind and friendly we really enjoyed spending time with him and would definitely like to do this safari again. The walking tour was very entertaining with the bush man and the river safari was so fun when we stopped to watch the sun set it was just beautiful.

Wonderful place, amazing landscapes and wildlife, few tourists

Wildlife so great in a natural environment, no habitation except a few ecolodges and rangers. Ecolodge wonderful, without fences, animals passing by day and night, food simple but good, meals taken on a big table with everyone in the lodge, very nice guides well trained speaking english very well and sometimes even french !
Great differences in environment, between the lakes, hills, bush, hotsprings, forest...

Awesome experience that everyone has to try at least once in their lifetime

We chose Tanzania as the destination of our honeymoon. My wife was quite reluctant with the choice, but she forgot every fear as soon as we got there.
Sells Game Reserve is a great destination for those that want to run from the crowds, usually seen in the north of Tanzania and south of Kenya. In this areas, the landscape seems a lot more spectacular, ant that's why I just give 4 stars to the Selous Game Reserve. But I can swear that the landscape in Selous, is just awesome.
The best thing in Selous Game Reserve is the exclusive feeling of the experience as you see very little people while still being able to finde a big diversity of fauna and flora.
We stayed in Siwandu and we can just say good things about it. Friendly people with a nice service and an awesome cuisine. The tents are very luxurious and it is awesome to wake up and watch the wildlife just at your door.

See it by yourself here: https://youtu.be/tX-cdXK1kCY

Larger than anything. Wildlife is usually har to find and weather can be tricky, really hot and humid. But this place is for the turists who want to meet the real wild Africa. I´m really glad to have been there before it gets too crowded like the other parks.

One of the most interesting wildlife experience

In a previous travel, my wife and I have visited other parks in Tanzania (see below). We had great time watching the wildlife. That was our honeymoon travel (yes, we love wildlife !)
So, we had the wish to come back to Tanzania to see the wildlife again. As we stayed on one of the Zanzibar islands, we decided to take a short tour at the Selous Game Reserve. We choose this park because there is not so much tourists. We wanted a park where we could feel almost alone, in communion with nature and wildlife.
We were absolutely seduced by the park. It is really big, has some roads but is clearly saved to be a wild area where animals and birds can leave in the wild.
We have also appreciated a lot to have both car safari and boat safari in the same area. That was the first time we made a boat safari, close to hippos and elephants.
We spent one night in a tented camp. This is a really exciting experience. Maasai people were there to help us make our way between our tent and the lobby because wild animals move freely. That is fun.