Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania)

I went to Selous Game Reserve in March 1994 as part of a 3-stop holiday to Ras Kutani, Selous and Zanzibar.

We landed at Dar es Salaam after an 11 hour flight from Heathrow and almost immediately boarded a small prop plane to take us to Ras Kutani where we could chill out for a few days before embarking upon the safari. These local prop planes do not seem to run to a specific schedule, but just wait for all the people they think should ...
...boat and walking safaris at Selous and we sampled each of them. The general way it works is that one has a morning safari and an afternoon safari, with meals squeezed in between those; it is actually quite a hectic schedule and one sleeps well at night.

The safaris were fantastic. The element of discovery was there all the time with the guide teaching us how to track and spot things in the bush. The walking safaris - which start at ... more

I went to Selous Game Reserve in March 1994 as part of a 3-stop holiday to Ras Kutani, Selous and Zanzibar.

We landed at Dar es Salaam after an 11 hour flight from Heathrow and almost immediately boarded a small prop plane to take us to Ras Kutani where we could chill out for a few days before embarking upon the safari. These local prop planes do not seem to run to a specific schedule, but just wait for all the people they think should be on the flight and then take off.

I had the best seat on the plane as the pilot asked if I would like to sit up front with him and the views across the African plains were fantastic as we flew out to the Ras Kutani lodge on the coast.

The lodge itself is the perfect place to relax after a long flight; very peaceful and isolated with a glorious blue lagoon running into a fantastic beach. The lodge was populated by noisy monkeys and glorious African birds, as well as an extremely friendly and accommodating human staff. One stays in fantastic wooden lodges with open fronts and only a mosquito net to protect you from the elements at night. Tea is left on the veranda in a thermos flask in the morning and it is wondeful to wake up to a cup of tea overlooking such a beautiful location.

A couple of days there just flew by and it was time to head out to Selous. The flight is about an hour and a half and, by some extraordinary stroke of luck, I got to sit up front with the pilot again. It was a wonderful journey; we could see giraffe and elephant on the plains below and there is just something about the African landscape that defines the word 'panoramic'.

We landed in what can only be described as a field and were on our first Landrover safari within a few hours.

At this point I should explain that we asked the excellent Aardvark Travel to sort this holiday out for us. They asked lots of questions about the holidays we had enjoyed before and what we were looking for and they suggested to us that, although we may not stand as good a chance of seeing the volume of game as we would in somewhere like the Serengeti, Selous' element of 'discovery' would appeal to us more. They were right.

The game reserve is very wild and 'unmanaged' and they don't fly the planes overhead every day to find animals for the tourists like they do in other parks. Yet within moments we had spotted giraffe, impala, wart hogs and all manner of antelope. The guides don't know what they're likely to find either but rely on their knowledge and tracking experience to find game for the tourists.

What tends to happen is they put you with a few different guides the first few days and then ask you who you prefer, and he then becomes your guide for the duration. We settled on Apollo, who was both extremely friendly and knowledgeable, specialising in the bird life of the area.

One stays in a tent at Selous, although it is a very posh tent with electricity, proper beds and even a toilet and sink. The restaurant is a large wooden affair erected on stilts and one eats the 'local' food, albeit cooked fantastically by what must be an experienced chef. The camp is totally open, so one needs to be escorted back to ones tent by an armed guard after dark. I can remember walking between the restaurant and the tent on the first day - during daylight - and a herd of Impala just wandered across the little path a few yards in front of me. It was fantastic to be so close to and so much a part of that environment.

The view from our tent was down towards the river where one would see hippos ambling along the bank and, slightly worryingly, a large crocodile within a distance just close enough to be concerning.

The landscape itself is very mixed with some heavily forested areas which suddenly open out onto a plain with a lone umbrella Acacia tree in the middle, in very 'Out of Africa' fashion. The guides are masters with the Landrover and negotiate some extremely tricky stuff with seeming ease.

They do Landrover, boat and walking safaris at Selous and we sampled each of them. The general way it works is that one has a morning safari and an afternoon safari, with meals squeezed in between those; it is actually quite a hectic schedule and one sleeps well at night.

The safaris were fantastic. The element of discovery was there all the time with the guide teaching us how to track and spot things in the bush. The walking safaris - which start at 6AM before it gets too hot - are particularly good, but I'll say no more about those so as to avoid spoiling any surprises.

We saw lions at close range a few times, and we saw elephant, giraffe, all manner of antelope, hyena, wart hogs, wild dogs, hippo, crocodile and lots and lots of birds. The only thing we had hoped to see but simply couldn't find was leopard.

One night there was a slight panic of making sure everyone was safely in their tent as a lion was dragging a kill through the camp with a hyena hot on his tail to try and steal it. It was pitch black and we couldn't see a thing, be we could certainly hear the lion roaring at close range with a hyena barking in laughter close behind it. As we went on our safari the next day we saw the kill just outside the camp, surrounded by vultures and one extremely well-fed hyena. We presume the lion either had his fill and moved off or was muscled out by a pack of hyena.

I would recommend Selous to anyone without the slightest hesitation. It is an experience that one will never forget.

Oddly enough when we flew from Selous to Zanzibar I was asked to sit up front with the pilot for a third time - clearly my reputation as a flight consultant was now confirmed! 

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