Selous Game Reserve

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Selous Game Reserve is a vast (19,000 square miles) wilderness area lying at the heart of southern Tanzania.  It is Africa's largest wildlife reserve, and home to large herds of elephants, plus giraffes, buffaloes, crocodiles, hippos, wild dogs, lions, and many bird species.  Bisecting the reserve is the Rufiji River which cuts a path past woodlands, grasslands, and stands of borassus palm.

I stayed at Nomad's Sand Rivers lodge.  The lodge has eight spacious, open-fronted cottages built from stone and thatch.  I stayed in a riverside room -- so up on the banks of the Rufiji River -- with an absolutely stunning view. 

I stayed at the lodge for three nights and I went on two morning drives and two afternoon drives -- and skipped an afternoon boat ride.  The lodge was just gorgeous -- so I spent a beautiful afternoon lounging around the pool listening to the hippos (and reading).

Selous has the reputation for being the last true stronghold for African wild dog.  While another group did see wild dogs on my first day, I unfortunately didn't see them at all.  Sadly, hunting is also allowed in this reserve (in an area far away from the safari camps).

Selous was very different from my other camps -- in good & bad ways.  Although only a 30-minute flight from Dar es Salaam -- there aren't a lot of camps/lodges -- so there aren't a lot of tourists (which is a real positive).  A lot of the reserve is dense woodlands -- which is beautiful -- but makes animal viewing much more difficult.

The park has a LOT of giraffes -- just fantastic.  And a lot of hippos.  And crocodiles.

It also has leopards that don't live in trees (too hot) -- but instead hang out in the dense bush -- making it very difficult to spot them (I didn't see any).

I did have my first lion kill viewing here.  Gruesome -- but rather cool.  The kill happened in less than 10 seconds -- the pride was hanging out on top of a small hill by a lake -- so the poor animal didn't see them -- walked right by --- and boom!

Video alert:  this video includes lions eating a warthog.

List of animals that I encountered at Selous:
Location: Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania

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