The Selous game reserve is massive; roughly the same size as Belgium; this Park is huge and wild. It has much to offer and although it has been rarely visited in the past in recent years visitors to Tanzania have begun to realize this park has much to offer the tourist looking for the remote wilderness experience. The Selous was plagued in late 1970’s and 1980’s by poaching; it is thought the populations of Elephants fell from 110,000 to 30,000 in twenty years.
The northern section of the park is where a handful of luxury camps are found. This area has three major habitats; riverine thickets where elephants, hippo, antelope and crocodiles will be found; open grassland where wildebeest, zebra, lion and wildogs are found; the miombo woodlands on the mountain ridges around Beho Beho [a new camp has just opened here] and Stieglers Gorge are home to Kudu and Roosevelt’s sable. A great deal of this area northern Selous is set aside for photographic safaris.
Rhino, was once common in the are but were almost poached into extinction but numbers are now beginning to recover. Lake Tagalala is one of the main attractions to this area with its many species of grassland and water bird. The hot springs are another lure and is a nice place for a picnic and a swim in the hot waters.
To the South is the Rufiji River; where luxury camps cater for tourists offering game safaris at sunset cruisers along this majestic river through pools of wallowing hippo and crocodiles basking on the banks of the river.
To venture into the almost trackless south of the Rufiji River; to the network of tributaries and oxbow lakes is truly wild. Visitors must be fully self sufficient to venture in to this part of the Selous. It is only the north of this park that is developed in any way for tourists.
The Selous is recommended for a truly out of Africa experience; the camps here are luxurious although a little expensive. However, the added expense is worth it to experience this African wilderness.
Why is the Selous Game Reserve so special? Well, first of all its shear size; it is bigger than Denmark or Switzerland and makes up for 5% of Tanzania land. It is one of the largest Game reserves in the world and the largest in Africa. This is not because of vast stretches of desert; the Selous is an unspoiled, well watered area where human habitation is possible.
Tanzania encourages low density tourism in the Selous and it is therefore well and truly worth a visit. This is an African destination that is not different but more importantly it is as you would imagine it should be; a taste of what the early explores must have felt as they journeyed in search of the source of the Nile.
Its wildlife populations are huge despite the heavy poaching in the 1980’s. The rare wild dog can also be seen in this reserve.
Another special feature is the mighty Rufiji River. This river offers sunset game cruises; there are not many places in East Africa were this is offered. The park encompasses a wide rage of habitats, including open grasslands, woodland, swamps and is an important area for wetland plants. The United Nations declared the Selous Game Reserve a World Heritage Site in 1982.
Many guide books describe a section of the park; the northern section. This area is promoted for photographic tourism and is the most beautiful game-rich area in the whole ecosystem. The boundaries of the area are marked by the TAZARA railway to the north. The west border has the Stiegler’s Gorge and the south is boarded by the Rufiji River. The area beyond the Rufiji River is not developed for tourism; there are no lodges, nor roads and any explorer need to be fully self sufficient to go not this area.
Along the Rufiji River are the huge Borassus Palms growing up to 25 meters tall. These majestic trees thrive next to the water and will die-off in times of drought. This wide meandering river with its lakes, swamps and countless interlocking channels is one of the most important ecological wetland systems in Eastern Africa.
Fires in this area are inevitable. These fires are a source of conflict. Many people seeing them as destructive and they should be extinguished as quickly as possible; others seeing the fires as a source of regeneration. At times the reserve staff will start a ‘cold’ fire that is less destructive than latter fires when the grass becomes dry.
The Selous Game reserve is huge, wild, has exceptional landscapes and high densities of wildlife; all these factors make a safari here special and your heart will become set on returning to explore more. The Selous offers a unique opportunity to get to know the African bush in all its varied glory.
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