The Selous Game Reserve - An expert guide to Selous Safaris and Accommodation Options

The Rufiji River, with its lagoons, sandbanks and lakes, and the surrounding forests and woodlands that make up the Selous Game Reserve create a very unique and unusual safari environment.

The vast area contained within the reserve boundaries accounts for 5% of the land mass of Tanzania, and yet all options for tourists are high quality, low-impact lodges that provide a high standard of accommodation. (Please see below).

Covering almost 50,000 square km, an area greater than Switzerland, the Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest areas set aside for wildlife preservation anywhere in the world, although only a small northern portion is allocated for photographic tourism.

Selous Safaris; walking and boating, and flycamping

The freedom to take walking and boating safaris within the conservation area means that guiding standards are also especially good and can extend to include excellent options to fly-camp overnight in the bush.

Photographing the Selous

This is an area that naturally appeals to a photographic lens, as the waterways and plains reflect all the changing colours of the sun and attract numerous fine-feathered water birds and raptors.

Selous Wildlife

The spectrum of wildlife here is diverse, all the more interesting because its southern location attracts a unique combination of East and Southern African wildlife, both resident and migratory, and particularly a curious and colourful assortment of over 440 known species of birds.

The intricate waterways and tributaries of the Rufiji River Delta attract a healthy population of elephant, and are packed full of grunting hippopotami and yawning crocodile that lumber ominously into the water at the first sound of a boat. The banks attract different sized herds of plains game depending on the season, as herds disperse after the rains and then regroup when the water sources concentrate and they are forced to venture into the open to drink, so risking predator attacks with the protection of the crowd.

Selous Scenery

The scenery is pleasantly varied, with unusually green grasses and tangles of vegetation, and inspires a film depleting string of photographic moments with each turn in the path. The river routes are characterised by legions of tall Borassus Palms along the banks that grow up to 25m tall, and leave a tall headless totem when the water courses change direction and they become too thirsty to survive.

The same demise is thought to explain the spooky silhouettes of ancient leadwood trees that remain preserved intact when they die after up to two millennia of life, leaving a skeletal perch for songbirds and raptors.

The Selous conserves a surprisingly colourful African landscape, and the white forms of the leadwoods are in stark contrast to the surrounding vibrancy of well-watered greens and a ranging palette of sandy terracottas that reflect the moods of the sun on the waters.