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Roman RdH
AT
Visited:
November 2025
Reviewed: Nov 22, 2025
Email Roman RdH | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Rich wildlife, very nice diverse scenery with lakes, bush, forest, rivers
Forest like vegetation offer a lot of hide-outs animals like lions are sometimes difficult to spot
Francesco Romagnoli
IT
Visited:
October 2025
Reviewed: Dec 5, 2025
Email Francesco Romagnoli | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
all animals seen, very good roads, natural sceneries. Fully recommended.
watch out: Rhinos are not seen in the park since ever, basically no one remembers to have seen one. rest of animals are present and abundant.
Nyerere is a good option for those travelling from DAR and Zanzibar.
Pierre Andre Plotkins
CA
Visited:
March 2026
Reviewed: Mar 23, 2026
Email Pierre Andre Plotkins | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
As this was our first safari destination, there were a number of firsts !
There were a number of encounters, often quite close.
Completely different to the northern parks of Tanzania
Selous isnt a National Park like the famous Serengeti with all the almost tame animals, therefore its kind of boring or even un-expected in the beginning when you see shy Zebras or Giraffes running away from Safari visitiors even when they are fare away (like 100m and more). But then, you'll end up with a more natural feeling - it's interesting to see big groups of Giraffes running scared ... but the thing I liked at most was that in the Selous you can stop the car, get out, have a walk, picnic or whatever. The drivers go whereever the car is able to go through the bush - and that makes the experience, because you're much closer to animals like Elephants or even the Wild Dogs. In general its not really touristy, so everything feels more like an expected bush adventure. Ah, and for me the flight in small plane was an "adventure" as well. So i'll recommend the Selous (afterwards) in combination with e.g. the Serengeti.
jonnyboy1403
GB
Visited:
October 2010
Reviewed: Sep 27, 2011
Email jonnyboy1403 | 35-50 years of age
Amazing, wild but luxurious, safari the way it should be
Maybe we were lucky, but on the transfer from the runway, little more than a dirt track, to the lodge we came across 4 lionesses who were just resting after a big kill and feed, the vultures were now tidying up the carcass. We stayed at Sand Rivers, which has an excellent position over the river which was teeming with crocs and hippos, although be expected to share your room, which is open towards the river, with monkeys,
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bush-babys and various bugs, but that’s all part of being on safari. Be warned the monkeys are very inquisitive, they know when your morning coffee is coming and want the sugar and the biscuits, it’s a funny start to each day. Given the lodge is open to the wild, as night falls you must be escorted by an Ascari for protection, one night a herd of elephants decided the trees by our room were their dinner.Given the position of the lodge, we were able to take a number of river safaris, given a completely different view as you get a bit more up close to the crocs and hippos, remember the latter are the number one killer of humans in Africa, so hope your guide knows how to navigate. If you’re lucky you may get to see a herd of wildebeest or elephants drinking and washing in the river, the birdlife here is amazing as well. But there is nothing like switching the engine off and just drifting listening to the sounds. You can also do walking safari, with an armed guard, where your guide can talk to you about some of the plants and smaller animals you may come across, as well as looking for tracks of the bigger ones
You will see lots of elephant, giraffe, zebra and impala, you will see lions, but there’s no guarantee when, our encounters were more by chance than planning, in fact our day we specifically set out on a lion hunt proved fruitless until we made the journey back to camp and there was a young lion just sleeping by the dirt track. We were lucky on our first full day to see a young leopard, he had been spotted a few days earlier in the same tree, so as we approached our guide was apprehensive he would be there again but luckily he was. After this meeting he wasn’t seen again that week, despite various other parties looking for him. On our trip we were also managed to wild dogs and hyenas, both are rare sightings and we have to thank our eagle eyed guides for being able to find them. As mentioned earlier due to the remoteness, when you return to the lodge in the evenings you regale your stories of the day to others in the camp over drinks and dinner, as you are likely to have been the only one to have seen yours sights that day, it makes for plenty to talk about. Although all the jeeps are in contact with each other if a rare sighting is made and others are in the area to see it.
One highlight, amongst many, at Sand Rivers is the ability to go fly camping. This is going back to basics, sleeping out in the open, with nothing but a mosquito net above you, although they provide a small modesty tent for changing in. The advanced party had set up the camp by a lake which was full of crocs, wait till the sun goes down and shine a torch across the water and see their yellow eyes looking back at you. A bar is there, a 3 course mean by the lake and the wild all around you, plus a couple of armed guards who stay up through the night just in case.
The guides and hosts were all excellent with good food and plenty of it, breakfast is served to order just don’t expect it in a hurry, but there is no need to rush as everything is done to your timings. The evening meal is served together on big table for all guests, which makes for a great atmosphere as you all share your stories of the day, and don’t forget afternoon tea before you head out for your late afternoon drive, with a different freshly made cake each day. The lodge bedrooms are grand, with a bathroom open to the river but with trees providing enough privacy and a wonderful waterfall shower. Overall this was an amazing trip, raw safari but in luxury.
Marion
GB
Visited:
September 2012
Reviewed: Nov 6, 2012
Email Marion | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Selous Game Reserve - An exciting, adventurous safari.
Six of us visited Rufiji River Camp in September 2012. We were welcomed by Karl and Sally with a welcome drink, given a quick show around the lounge/dining area and escorted to our tents to freshen up. These were extremely well set out, quite large and comfortable with a veranda overlooking the Rufiji River. We went to the dining area to meet Karl for a brief safety talk and be given our different safari options after which we enjoyed a simple delicious lunch.
That afternoon, went on a river cruise where we saw lots of birds, hippos and some crocodiles. Quite often elephants are seen on these cruises, but we were unlucky this time. It was very peaceful and enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the way back. We decided to have a full day safari the next day as you get to see more of the area and the opportunity of seeing many more animals. Well, we were delighted to see Lions and cubs very quickly around a kill, lots of Elephants, Greater
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Kudu, Giraffes, zebras, a beautiful fully grown male leopard lazing away in a rock shelf, more lions, impalas, jackals, lots of gorgeous birds, especially the Lilac Breasted Roller and very specially, after waiting to see wild dogs for eight years, we came across these wonderful dogs. There were ten in all with pups. We watched them for at least 20 minutes, such a privilege as they are so rare. We also went on a walking safari and had to stay still for about 15 minutes as a small herd of elephants were in front of us heading for the river which was very exciting. Our Guide then told us about all the trees and bushes that have special medicinal properties which are still used today by local people. He also pointed out the spoor of different animals, it was really fascinating. We walked for about three hours and it went so quickly! We had the same guide during our stay who was excellent. Being seasoned safari folk, we even learned details of the fauna and flora we hadn’t heard before as he was so knowledgeable.The scenery was lovely, still green as it wasn’t long after the rains, quite different from other parts of Africa where sometimes it is extremely arid and dry. The weather was hot and dry in the day, turning chilly at night.
The food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, only wish we had booked for longer. We would certainly recommend staying at Rufiji Camp in Selous for a great experience; they look after you from start to finish, never having to worry about anything.
Marion and Rod
Code Redsniper
BE
Visited:
September 2010
Reviewed: Nov 11, 2012
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
I hope to go there again for certain. Wild, remote and extremely beautiful
wildlife; excellent (though no rhino), we came upon 10 wild dogs (saw them 3 times in four days), saw over 50 lions on one day. Scenery; extremely beautiful accomodations; (ruaha river lodge); excellent but very poor management. Food; very good, guide; very good, but sometimes going off road and not always taking care for wildlife. wheater; very sunny but humidity is quite high
Sahasrangshu
TZ
Visited:
September 2015
Reviewed: Oct 15, 2015
Email Sahasrangshu | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A Photographic Route to Game Park.
Since its game park unlike national park animals can be seen very close and the animals does not have any boundary. I went to Selous twice September and again in October. From the entrance gate after we drove in side open safari cars and after 15 mins of drive was mesmerized by collection and density of the animals and variety of birds. Interesting part of Selous is after each 5 or 6 kms the topography changes sometimes is plain near the lake , other time red soil with white thorn bushes and again green large tree with paddy roads. I saw over all 34 lions with 4 different prides, was lucky to be watching them eating fresh hunt
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. Driver normally drive very close to them effectively a 300mm lens is sufficient enough to click lions, apart from lions giraffe, kudus, water buck, heartbeast, wilderbeast, different kinds of eagles, bee eaters etc was in plenty. Night can bit scary as starting from lion to hippo all was roaming near our camp. Some of the camps are too much luxury some are moderate but most of them are built on the bank of Rufiji River, hence morning walk near the boundary you will be able to see animals and birds easily. Most of the resorts switchoff the lights are 10 AM and is left with battery backups. Overall the best part of Selous are 1. Close proximity with animals, 2. Huge Collection of Animals. 3. Shoot as you like means you can even get down at a distance from the car and take worm height shot of an elephant 4. Support from the guides to take a good shot. I would any day recommend anyone to join Selous.
Steen
DK
Visited:
January 2016
Reviewed: Feb 11, 2016
Email Steen | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The real thing, wild wildlife
We were 5 pers. going together on a gamedrive for one day arranged by "Along the River Camp". We were in an open LandRover from "Selous River Camp" with with an excelent driver and a trained guide. For me Selous is a fantastic place where You get very close to the wild nature without driving in a long row of cars. We met only two other cars this day so You really get the feeling of being in the middle of the wild-wild nature. I have been to the Reserve three times, and each time You a get different experience. This time we were fortunate to see the lions at close range and we surprised an elephant with a 3 days old baby, who tried to scare us off. Amazing. I believe Selous is the least spoiled game reserve, with fewer tourists than the renouned Serengeti, Ngorongoro but that is the essence of the visit. You only get to see a small part of one the worlds biggest nature reserves, but You are left with a very special feeling of being close to the real thing.
Sergej Osipov
ES
Visited:
November 2015
Reviewed: Apr 18, 2016
Email Sergej Osipov | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Splendid and variable scenery with great wildlife encounters
Altogether, we have spent around 3 weeks in Tanzania. After arrival to Dar Es-Salam, we have rented the cars and headed directly to Selous Game Reserve that took us around 6 hours to get. We have spent the night just outside the park in a beautiful lodge just next to the river. We have brought all the equipment like kitchen and sleeping tents with us, so we could sleep in the camps inside the park and be able to prepare the food. It was the beginning of November and spring was coming, it was quite hot already but we thought it would be perfect timing to go to Safari destinations. With the first rays of light, we have entered Selous Game Reserve Park, as we were planning to spend the night at the campsite inside the park, we had to bring a guide with us, and he was very friendly and with a lot of knowledge about the wildlife. He had spent the night with us in the camp, during the daytime we have done a few walks, and game drives. Almost for 3 days, we were driving around the park, which has a big variety of sceneries and as a consequence a lot of different wildlife.
