 The Selous Game Reserve makes up, along with Mikumi National Park, Ruaha National Park and Udzungwa Mountains National Park, the ‘southern safari circuit’ in Tanzania. The reserve is a massive wilderness, being larger than Switzerland and three times the size of Serengeti National Park. It is the largest game reserve in Africa being about 50,000 sq km (19,300 sq miles) in size. Selous Game Reserve is a World Heritage site and received 6,000 visitors in 2004.
The game reserve is named after the English explorer and hunter Captain Frederick Courtney Selous (pronounced ‘Selloo’), who was killed during the 1st World War by a German sniper near the Rufiji River which flows through the reserve. There is a lot of water in Selous, with the mighty Rufiji River, its tributaries and many lakes, making it an ideal place for river safaris. Particularly impressive is the sunset viewed from the Rufiji River near Hidden Paradise, Rufiji River and Selous Impala Tented Camps. As well as lots of water there are marshes, open grassland and miombo woodland, with the ‘bush’ being very much as it existed thousands of years ago.
Selous Game Reserve has an abundance of wild life. It has the largest elephant population in Africa, estimated at between 55-65,000 and probably the largest populations of buffalo (120–160,000), hippopotamus (40–45,000) and lion (4,000) on the continent. There are also large numbers of giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala, waterbuck, warthog and eland. The reserve is also an important sanctuary for a number of endangered species, such as the black rhino (100-150). There are also over 440 species of birds in the reserve.
There can be little doubt that this is an excellent reserve and ideal safari destination, which provides real contrast to the other national parks we offer, especially the water dominated landscape and the opportunities this creates for viewing animals and the water birds, either on river safaris or game drives. It is a wonderful wilderness, which is well away from the crowds and one which we visit at every opportunity.
Guests fly into and out of Selous Game Reserve either from Zanzibar, Dar-es-Salaam or Ruaha National Park. Guests can also travel from Dar-es-Salaam by 4WD or train.
The accommodation we use in Selous Game Reserve is
Hidden Paradise Camp, Rufiji River Camp, Sable Mountain Lodge and Selous I mpala Tented Camp.
Selous Game Reserve is closed during the rainy season from March to June.
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