Nature experience for Africafans
A lot of people may have never heard the word Selous. Selous is a Game Reserve located in the South Eastern Part of Tanzania. The Selous Game Reserve, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the large diversity of its wildlife and undisturbed nature. It was named after Sir Frederick Selous, an English hunter and early conservationist. The Selous Game Reserve is not only the biggest natural reserve in Tanzania, but the biggest in the whole of the African continent. It is about 50,000km2 in space, making it almost 3 times the size of the Serengeti National Park which is located in the northern part of Tanzania. The Selous, as I mentioned earlier is a fairly unexplored area.
Tented Lodges instead of big Hotels
Within the reserve no permanent human habitation or permanent structures are permitted, and thus, there are no lodges or hotels in the whole of the massive area of Selous Game Reserve. This serves as a gain especially to visitors as properties are using the tented camps for accommodations. These tented camps give a nearness to nature in a way that cemented walls don’t. How the nearness is sensed in a tented camp is a whole new experience, one that can only be understood once encountered. Tented camps give a whole new definition to the African adventure. Imagine being in the wilderness, close to the nature, close to the wild animals, hearing an elephant trumpet, or a lion roar or seeing buffalos grazing in front of your tent in the morning. This experience gives an adrenaline rush like no other activity can. Elephants and buffalos are regular visitors at numerous tented camps, so chances of seeing these 2 animals are high.
This unexplored magnificent game reserve is famous for the animals it habituates; Elephants, hippos, African wild dogs, the black rhino, cape buffalos and crocodiles and many more. In addition to this, not only is Selous famous for its animals but it is also famous for the flora and fauna as well as diversity of the birds it has within the reserve. Interesting places in the park include the Rufiji River (where Boat Safaris can be arranged), the Stiegler Gorge, a canyon of 100 metres depth and 100 metres width (named Steigler after the Swiss explorer who was killed by an elephant in 1907 at that very gorge.)
Boat Safari along Rufiji River
Activities that can be arranged in this game reserve include game drives, boat safaris on the Rufiji River and walking safaris around the tented camps. The hippos and crocodiles don’t need a lot of effort when it comes to spotting or finding them because they are high in concentration in the Rufiji River. Game that can be seen from the Boat Safari will almost be the same as those in game drives + Hippos and Crocodiles.
Selous is waiting to be explored.
It leaves me in astonishment that this game reserve doesn’t get as much recognition as the Serengeti does, Selous is more wild, is bigger in terms of area, it offers boat safaris, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and so much more. Selous is the perfect place for nature lovers, people looking for adrenaline from nature, people who want to enjoy a boat safari looking at animals, sundowners by the river Rufiji, game drives, walking safaris or just to be alone in the bush. Selous is waiting to be explored.
