Forget the screen when you have the serene Selous Game Reserve play Bush TV right out in front of you. Located in Tanzania’s South East, Selous Game Reserve is Africa’s oldest and largest game reserve covering 50,000 km2 and large enough to engulf Switzerland and then some. Despite its size, Selous is one of the least most visited parks with only 8% open to tourists. making it the perfect offbeat safari venture.
For those who want more of an offbeat safari adventure away from the hordes of tourists visiting Tanzania’s most famous parks (Serengeti and Ngorogogo), a visit to Selous is just as accessible. It can be as easy as a fly in, fly out, touching down on its remotely located bush air strip. The only thing that awaits your arrival is a surprisingly well-equipped bush toilet and a wooden hut – forget customs! Your local concierge comes in the form of an open-air jeep that you cannot wait to jump into and call game on!
Bring on the game in Selous
Selous Game Reserve attracts large numbers of elephants, black rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes and crocodiles.
In some parks, the viewing of giraffes can sometimes be a rare occurrence – not in Selous. They were everywhere. Looking into their big, bold eyes and fluttering their eyelashes could tempt any woman to run for their mascara. Their slender, usual physique will also leave you in total awe. They are creatures of sheer beauty, especially when they run, as it looks as though life has suddenly gone into slow-mo.
The first sighting of lions was literally right out of The Lion King script. Cue the romantic theme song ‘Can you feel the love tonight?’ and a real-life Simba and Nala were displaying exactly how it felt. It certainly wasn’t child-friendly viewing but it was just so fascinating to see animals do their loving thing.
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A little life of luxury
Another winning find in Selous is the luxury camp by its main water-body, Lake Manze. From the terrace of my luxury tent, I had a perfect viewpoint of the lake and its surrounding jungle. It was just so surreal to see a procession of giraffes travelling right to left in single-file every so often from the comfort of my tent. Impalas and warthogs also made guest appearances in my viewing vicinity without me needing to step a foot outside my tent space.
You could possibly expect being in a place that is so open to wildlife that there would possibly be a fence of sorts to guard the property. Well instead of fences for protection, there were Maasai warriors on standby to help protect and save the day if the camp was frequented by a perilous visitor.
Each night after a wholesome three course feed, I was walked back to my tent with the guidance of a Maasai warrior. One night under the spellbinding blanket of stars, my Maasai warrior, equipped with torch in hand, was walking me back to my tent when within a quick flash, spotted a standing hippo within the campgrounds. Usually, the most common of sightings of hippos are in water as unfortunately, they do not have sweat glands to cope with intense heat. We stood still and fearless, admiring the lone hippo munching away on a small tree despite the fact danger could be imminent as they are the second more dangerous animal to roam the earth after the pesky mosquito. Seeing its sheer size right before me was breath-taking – this was most certainly a hazardous viewing but a diplomatic one.
What to know more about the Maasai?
See what it was like to visit a Maasai village
Drive on
Dramatic close ups are a thing out in the wild with an elephant deciding to greet us, coming within a metre of our jeep. Another close call was a hungry lion, trolling the car after a failed kill attempt of its Selous counterparts. To rewind this moment of time, an unsuspecting warthog was carrying on its’ merry ways, navigating the savannah with a lion slowly, paw after paw, trailing its movements. This carried on for moments that seem to be fitting with a drawn out climatic scene.
Will the kill take place? Will the warthog fight back? And will it survive?
I am happy to report that it did survive – yey! The outback drama was disrupted by the sound of three jeeps pulling up to watch it all unfold. Despite our presence of numerous jeeps arriving at the scene, a pride of 10 lions nearby did not seem to be bothered. They all were just resting under a scanty shade of scraggy bush presuming after a well-fought out morning with their full bellies on display. I felt a little bit intimidated to see a pride resting nearby. I think it was just the thought of knowing full well if you were to foolishly step out of the jeep, you could be their next meal – a tragedy too dire to comprehend!
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It also wouldn’t be a real adventure without a mishap. On one game drive, a tyre decided to call it a day and soon enough we were one wheel down. Ok, it was not as dire as it sounds. The flat tyre was swiftly replaced in enough time before I had even time to start thinking about the worst case scenario of being stuck in the Tanzanian outback!
Cap it off
To cap off a perfect day of safari was seeing the spectacle of Selous’s sunset.
Seeing a sunset in Africa, in general, is always going to be some kind of magical experience. When the time comes, the sun is at large, blood-orange and illuminating the sky with dreamy, candy-like colours of soft purple, pink and yellow. A painter would have a field day with their canvas just capturing it all for their next gallery viewing as there are just so many hues painting the sky.
This is a view that you would want a repeat of.
Getting there
By flight: Charter flight company Coastal Aviation fly from Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar to Selous up to three times daily.
Stay
Lake Manze Camp – The best part about my stay in a glamping tent was the ‘peak hour’ views that it offered of a steady stream of giraffes casually walking by. Enjoy the very unfiltered video tour of my tent below – sweaty face included #KeepingItReal
Check out all other available accommodation in Selous Game Reserve here
Disclaimer: I travelled as a guest as a part of a super adventurous tour of Tanzania with Essential Destinations and Coastal Aviation. All thoughts and opinion are honest and my own.
Wow! What a fun adventure! I really liked the video too. I have a tendency to randomly burst into song during my videos as well. haha! Very cool post. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed the read and the video! Ha busting out in song is just what I do to showcase this awesome world of ours! Hope you make it to Selous one day as it is pretty rad!
It’s been a dream for me to visit a game reserve, I really want to see giraffes one day! It looks like an awesome trip!
It was absolutely stunning – just watching the giraffes casually strolling by the Lake from my tent was literally a dream view! Highly recommend to check out this park because there was an abundant of wildlife 🙂
After reading your blog, I definitely wanna visit Tanzania real quick 🙂
Bush TV is the absolute best! I know South Africa’s game reserves well but thanks for putting Selous in Tanzania on my radar. What a great lion sighting. And I can think of worse places to have a flat tyre.
I think it’s Maasai warriors? 🙂 I also want to visit Africa in the future and experience mingling with these warrior and of course go on an adventure with the wildlife animals.
Looks like a great experience! This is definitely a bucket list item for me. To see the animals out in their natural habitat is a real dream. Beats the zoo and how caged animals are there. Makes you want to free them all.
How amazing is this? Being up close and personal with giraffes would be the coolest experience!
This place seems like such a fun adventure. I’m not much of an animal lover, but I’d definitely try to experience something like this.
Your blog is so fun! I love how your personality just shines through your writing. Have fun in your travels!
Loved it… what a wonderful trip you must have had… and very well done with the video I must say.
Amazing, what a trip! I love your post. I found the article very interesting and adventurous, The pictures captured in this article look very exciting and adorable. After reading your guest post I came to a wish that I should have to go to a trip like this.