Selous Game Reserve is one of Africa’s largest parks, but most of it has been set aside for hunting. The animal viewing area that is open to the public is relatively small but very rewarding, with many predator sightings and excellent boat safaris on the Rufiji River.
Selous Game Reserve is Africa's largest game reserve and one of favourite game viewing areas in Africa. Covering 50,000 square kilometres, is amongst the largest protected areas in Africa and is relatively undisturbed by human impact
Selous Game Reserve Highlights
Experience the Tanzania southern wilderness in Selous Game Reserve, less than an hour by light aircraft from Dar es Salaam. Remote and wild, Selous offers a variety of exclusive and professionally run safari options; by foot, boat or vehicle.
Wildlife
The Rufiji River is teeming with hippo and crocodile, and the birdlife is fantastic. Lion sightings are very common as the opportunistic creatures tend to laze around the lakes waiting for animals coming to drink. One of the attractions of the park is the chance to encounter wild dog.
Scenery
The part of Selous – north of the Rufiji River that is open to the public – is particularly scenic. The main wildlife-viewing circuit follows a string of five connected lakes fed by the Rufiji River. The Rufiji is one of Africa’s great rivers, with palm fringed channels and swampy islets.
Weather & Climate
Selous experiences uniform temperatures throughout the year because of its equatorial location. The main variation is a slight dip in the heart of the Dry season (June to October), when the environment is slightly cooler. Either side of this, the weather is hot and humid in keeping with the local Wet season (November to May).
Mystery Gorilla Safaris Says
Selous is Africa's largest protected wildlife area (followed by the Central Kalahari in Botswana), where Tanzania's greatest population of elephants wander in an area bigger than Switzerland.
Selous contains about one third of all African wild dogs, which are an endangered predator. Watching wild dogs hunt is fascinating - a luxury that Selous guests get to experience more often than anywhere else.
Fierce tiger fish and smooth slippery vandu catfish are caught in the rivers, offering keen fishermen something to look forward to. The vandu catfish is equipped with primitive lungs allowing it to cross land for short distance in an attempt to find water during the dry season.
The Selous is home to some of Africa's best boating safaris, while walking and fly camping trips are also popular, making the Selous the park in Tanzania with the greatest diversity of safari activities.
Selous Game Reserve Game Viewing and Activities
Selous Game Reserve has the largest number of elephants out of all the reserved wildlife areas in the country. The park offers a variety of environments ranging from hot volcanic springs, dense thickets, and open wooded grasslands. This diversity is also home a broad range of game, including buffalo, gnu, hartebeest, Greater kudu, sable, warthog and zebra. Also lion, hippo, spotted hyena and black rhino are spotted, while African wild dog and cheetah are sometimes seen.
Selous also boasts over 350 species of bird and reptiles such as crocodiles and various snakes and lizards. Walking is permitted (with an armed ranger). Selous is one of the more exclusive areas in Tanzania. Its size and location afford privacy and seclusion from the masses of tourists associated with the more well-known parks such as Ngorongoro and Serengeti.
The dry season is the best time for game viewing, while the rainy season provides ample bird watching opportunities; however, many of the roads are impassable after heavy rainfall. Lodges close between March and May.
Selous is home to several unusual antelope species such as the majestic sable and puku, a localized wetland special. Black rhino is rare but can sometimes be tracked down in some remote areas. Wild dog are present in the park and can be spotted when they are denning in the area accessible to tourists. |
| puku antelope |
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| sabu antelope |
How to Get There
Most safaris to Selous are fly-in packages from Dar es Salaam. The entry point for most visitors to the country will be Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) just outside Dar es Salaam. In most cases, your tour operator will pick you up and handle all further arrangements.
Selous is often visited as a safari extension to a beach holiday on Zanzibar Island, or one of the beaches around Dar es Salaam. To accommodate this, there are daily scheduled flights from either departure point to both Selous and Ruaha. Flights from Arusha town, the base for the northern safari circuit, are also available.
Another option is to drive to Selous from Dar es Salaam on a road safari, but the trip is bumpy and uncomfortable and will take a full day. Time permitting, there is the option of a stopover at Mikumi National Park to break up the trip.
Airlines & Ticket Prices
Please check Skyscanner or ,for multiple destination flights, check Expedia to see which airlines can take you to Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR), and what tickets would cost.
Domestic Flights
In most cases, charter flights are booked by Mystery Gorilla Safaris as part of your tour package. Scheduled flights to Selous can be booked with a domestic carrier:
Selous Game Reserve Seasons and Climate
The climate of Selous can be described as warm to hot and humid. Being so close to the equator, temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the year. Nights are warm, unlike the northern parks, where they are cold. The period of October through March consists of the warmer months, while June to August are cool. Although the area accessible to tourists has a mostly low altitude, there is a wide range in elevation throughout the park (from 40 to 1,317m or 131 to 4,321ft). Temperatures drop by about 6.5°C for every 1,000m you climb (or 3.5°F per 1,000ft).
Selous has a continual Wet season, which occurs from November to May, with no dry spell in between. This differs from coastal parks and those in the north. You can expect afternoon thunderstorms on most days, but they rarely continue all day long.
Dry season –June to October
June, July, August, September & October – Most days are full of sunshine and have a clear sky. Afternoon temperatures are usually around 28°C/82°F. Night temperatures drop to about 19°C/66°F.
Wet season –November to May
In the Wet season, high temperatures are common, along with great humidity. Afternoons are usually around 29°C/84°F and nights drop to 22°C/72°F.
November & December – November is the beginning of the Wet season, although the exact start is hard to predict. Rainfall tends to be occasional and short (mostly in the afternoon) and probably won’t hinder your safari. Daytime temperatures are usually close to 31°C/88°F; evening and morning are around 22°C/72°F.
January & February – It is further along in the rainy season, and there will be several days with short intervals of rain, usually in the afternoons. Daytime temperatures range close to 30°C/86°F, while night and early mornings average 22°C/72°F.
March, April & May – March and April are the rainiest months. Most days are wet, although it hardly ever rains for the entire day. The average maximum temp is usually 28°C/82°F and the minimum 21°C/69°F.
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