Selous Game Reserve is a protected area in southern Tanzania. It covers a total land area of 50,000 km2 and is decorated with additional buffer zones. The reserve was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 due to its wildlife diversity and undisturbed nature, making it one of Tanzania’s three World Heritage Sites. Selous was first designated a protected area in 1896 and became a hunting reserve in 1905. In 1922, the area was named as Selous Game Reserve after an English explorer and hunter, Captain Frederick Courtney Selous. It is Africa's largest game reserve and is about three times the size of South Africa's Kruger National Park, and twice the size of the Serengeti National Park. The vast area contained within the boundaries of the Selous Game Reserve accounts for five per cent of the landmass of Tanzania
Highlights.
Selous Game Reserve is Africa’s largest and oldest game reserve and one of its most scenic wildlife destinations. It covers a land mass of wilderness, grassy plains, open woodland, mountains and forests. Since 2005, the protected area is considered a Lion Conservation Unit.
At the heart of the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania’s largest river, the Rufiji, forms a complex network of channels, lakes and swamps that create one of the most outstanding ecological systems in East Africa. This river also splits the reserve into two different sections:
- The northern Selous covers only around 5% of the reserve’s total area. No hunting is allowed here; this area is dedicated exclusively to photographic safaris.
- The southern Selous, south of the Rufiji, is split up into a number of ‘hunting blocks’ – each of which typically cover about 1,000km².
The Northern section of Selous is home to a network of channels and lagoons that run off the Rufiji River. This lush landscape provides a water supply for the region’s game and towards the end of the dry season the concentration of animals around these water sources is phenomenal. Habitats include grassland, typical Acacia savanna, wetlands and extensive Miombo woodlands.
The tourist sector north of the Rufiji River extends to Stiegler’s Gorge (a canyon of 100 metres deep and 100 metres wide) in the west and the TAZARA railway in the north and contains all the various forms of vegetation to be found in this ecosystem. The combination of the river – its meandering streams, ox-bow lakes and swamplands – with open wood- lands, plains and dense thicket forests, makes the Selous an interesting ecological environment and an ideal location to explore over a number of days by vehicle, on boat trips and on foot. Selous is in its peak season from July through to the middle of November - this when the dry season is raging and all the game homes in on the few permanent water sources.
The Selous is a game reserve and is thus not subject to the regulations that govern Tanzania’s national parks, visitors are therefore offered a more integrated bush experience. Permanent human habitation is not permitted within the reserve. All human entry and exit is controlled by the Wildlife Division of the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
The wildlife of Selous Game Reserve
Animals
The large mammal populations found here, support the claim that the Selous is the greatest surviving African wilderness. Buffalo numbers are estimated at 120,000–150,000, and the reserve’s 40,000 hippo and 4,000 lion are probably the largest such populations on the continent. The Selous also harbors an estimated 100,000 wildebeest, 35,000 zebra, 25,000 impala and significant herds of giraffe, greater kudu, waterbuck, bushbuck, Lichtenstein's hartebeest and eland. It is also one of the most important sanctuaries in Africa for the endangered African wild dog, sable and puku antelope. There are also huge populations of crocodile, hippo, spotted hyena and leopard to name just a few of the big game species found here. Historically Selous has also been home to a large proportion of Tanzania’s elephant population.
Birdlife
More than 440 bird species have been recorded in the Selous. On the lakes you'll find pink-backed pelicans, African skimmers and giant kingfishers. The sandbanks are home to carmine and white-fronted bee-eater colonies whilst pairs of fish eagle, palmnut vulture, ibises and palm swifts nest in the borassus palms. Other waterbirds found in the Selous include: yellow-billed stork, white-crowned and spur-winged plovers, various small waders, pied and malachite kingfishers. Pairs of trumpeter hornbill and purple-crested turaco can also be seen between the riparian trees. Also worth looking out for among a catalogue of egrets and herons is the Malagasy squacco heron, a regular winter visitor, while the elusive Pel’s fishing owl often emerges at dusk to hawk above the water.
Activities in Selous
One of the main attractions of the Selous is the variety of game viewing activities available here. They all offer trips through the reserve by boat, vehicle and on foot.
Selous boat safaris allow you to drift on the lakes and channels, approaching birds and animals closely, including crocodile and hippo.
There are also guided game walks for those aged 12 and over (16 at Lake Manze and Impala), which come with a real likelihood of encountering big game such as; elephant, buffalo and even lion on foot.
Game drives are reliably rewarding, especially towards the end of the dry season, when large mammals concentrate around the five lakes.
Better still are the overnight fly-camping excursions offered by some of the camps, which entail sleeping out beneath a glorified mosquito net in the middle of the bush. A fly-camp is a small, temporary camp that is set up in the bush.
Hunting at Selous.
The vast majority, about 90%, of the Selous Reserve is used for trophy hunting. From what is observed of this area, there’s a lot of dense bush. Game drives
Photographic tourism
There’s a small northern portion of the park that is allocated for photographic tourism.
Birdwatching
There over 440 bird species in the Selous which makes it ideal for birdwatching.
Getting there.
Getting to the Selous is easy, it is served by light aircraft flights from Dar es salaam and Ruaha daily – a flight takes about 45 minutes from Dar, and about 90 minutes from Ruaha.
5 Day Selous Game Reserve & Ruaha National Park Safari
