Selous Wildlife & Game Reserve

Covering 44800 km2, Selous is the Africa’s biggest wildlife sanctuary some four times the size of the Serengeti National Park. Selous’s ecosystem is home to an estimated 750 000 mammals. The Reserve is listed as World Heritage Site by Unesco.

The landscape is also very varied from volcanic springs, sporadic lakes. But it is above all for its beautiful rivers, the channels and tributaries of the Great Ruaha and Rufiji Rivers that make this park so special. Particularly impressive is Stigler’s Gorge, where the Great Ruaha River meets the Rufiji River, is a breathtaking example of the diversity and spectacular scenery of this park. The vegetation is thicker in the Selous than the parks of the North and the climate more humid as we are closer to sea level, this encourages a rich plant life with over 2,000 species in the park. Here animals must be tracked and good guides are essential but

Selous is famous for its elephant, hippopotamus and buffalo - the largest population in Africa as well as most of the major species including all the big five although cheetah are rare. Hunting dogs are also common whereas in most of the parks of the North they have almost disappeared.

It is above all however a park of extreme scenic beauty and immense scale and diversity. In the Selous one is in one of the remotest parts of Africa and the emotions are heightened.

Selous is excellent for boat, land rover and walking safaris are possible if you are accompanied by a ranger. In addition it is renowned for fly tent safaris.

The best time to visit Selous is from July to October, after the long rains. June and November can be fine too. Avoid the height of the long rains (April-May) when in any case all the camps and lodges are closed.

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