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Understanding the Selous Wildlife, Birdlife, Vegetation, Locations and Attractions
Selous Game Reserve - Contents Table
The information detailed below on the Selous Game Reserve is based on the visitor accessible areas i.e. everything north of the Rufiji River.
North Western Selous Game Reserve: Matambwe
Selous is a Game Reserve that is different from any other park you can find in Tanzania. It has a superb concentration of wildlife that makes one feel overwhelmed to be literally cornered when driving on the game routes. Upon paying our park dues at Matambwe Gate, we drove down the newly constructed gravel stone access paths when we encountered a big herd of elephants who upon noticing our vehicle, frantically started searching for exit path but because it was large herd they ran into each other making it difficult to leave the scene. Just as to keep us on our toes, some of the elephants started trumpeting and flapping their ears, and we knew we had to give them space to disperse so we reversed our four wheel-drive back 100 meters and watched the whole grand scenario from a distance, which was remarkably amazing. Upon entering the park, the vegetation found is a mixture of miombo woodlands, plain savannah grass (where one can find a whole herd of white bearded wildebeests just take off in a storm upon one's approach) and acacia trees. The terrain of this region is rocky in some areas with flat land.
North Central Selous Game Reserve: Beho Beho
Driving down the main access road we bore right and headed down to the Beho Beho area, known to be the Mecca of lions in the heart of northern Selous. Once in this area, we placed ourselves back in time. We were on the sacred grounds that famous men before us had passed, tough battles had been fought and renowned soldiers had been buried. It was at Beho Beho that:
• Explorer Keith Johnston was buried on June 28th 1879.
• A big battle was fought between German colony soldiers and 25th British Fusiliers led by Frederick Courteney Selous during World War I.
• Frederick Selous was laid to rest with his grave extant till today, watched over by the presence of the great Beho Beho Mountain, a witness to the whole event.
Beho Beho Camp located on a hill and facing the beautiful Beho Beho Mountain, has a fantastic panoramic view. The camp was one of the earliest to have been built; the location of the camp is on a migratory and water source route. Right beneath the edge of the camp, elephants, lions, buffalos, antelopes pass by to get to the stream. Beho Beho is also next to Lake Tagalala, which has impressive numbers of bird populations such as Herons, Bee-eaters, Egyptian geese and Francolins. The vegetation around here sustains the tall beautiful palms trees, miombo woodlands and acacia trees. This area supports a good number of lions aided by vegetation cover and isolation the lions receive from intrusion. It was in this area around Lake Tagalala that we found a lion take down a cape buffalo. With the presence of the kill came the soaring of the vultures but to give an example of the remoteness of the Selous, we were lucky enough to be the only visitors watching this wildlife experience.
Southern Selous Game Reserve Near Rufiji River: Hot Sulfur Springs
After leaving Beho Beho, we headed down further east and took a turning that led us down further to the South, towards the hot springs. While driving down, one can really notice the vegetation and landscape change. You can see the tall Borassus Palms in the distance, backdrop itself against the scenic mountains near the Sand Rivers. The view is beautiful! Here one can see plenty of zebras, buffalos, impalas, waterbucks, dik diks, and fish eagles. The vegetation close to the ground also changes as you drive through lush green fig like trees with overhanging leaves; you will notice that a four wheel-drive comes in really handy with the earth turning to loose beach-like granules. During the short rains or periods of heavy rains, some of these areas become impossible to pass without a four wheel-drive. As you cross over the ravines, a series of turns to the right and slight left leads to the hot springs surrounded by lush vegetation. One can walk to the hot springs pool where the temperature on the floor is cooler than what the temperature is at the source of sulfurous spring.
Southern Selous Game Reserve Near Rufiji River: Sand Rivers
As you head back to the Rufiji River from the hot springs near the Sand Rivers junction, a path bearing slightly to the right leads you through the remote and isolated region of Sand Rivers Camp. On the way, you can see buffalos, zebras, giraffes, hippos, elephants, warthogs waterbucks, bushbucks and lots of bird species near the river. The scenery and location here is exclusive and many visitors staying at the northern most part of the Rufiji River do not make it out here for game viewing. The remoteness benefits the Sand Rivers Camp, where visitors share about their great moments of game viewing experiences. When we were visiting Sand Rivers, a couple from Florida, United States informed us that they had just come from their morning game viewing, where they staked out for three hours watching a lioness hunt a warthog. The ecstatic couple described how the lioness cautiously took each step for its kill, leaving the warthog no chance to escape. This was the couple's first day and first time in Africa. What a fantastic impression about Sand Rivers!
Southern Selous Game Reserve Near Rufiji River: Stiegler's Gorge
The area west of Sand Rivers is called Stiegler's Gorge named in memory of a Swiss national killed by an elephant at the turn of 20th century. The area around Stiegler's Gorge was a planned site for boosting Tanzania's energy supplies by creating a dam and hydroelectric power-generating scheme made possible by the Rufiji River. The Rufiji River in this part of the region has undergone a process of attrition, creating an 8-kilometer crevice through which the water flows.
North Eastern Selous: Mtemere
Heading back the same access path down to the Sand Rivers crossing junction and following the road, leads one back through the heart of northern Selous Game Reserve at Lake Tagalala and Beho Beho area. As we drove through the sheltering Borassus palms, we saw some elephants resting their trunks against the tree unaware of our presence as we past drove them. Last, we reached the main access road that linked the northwestern Selous to the northeastern Selous. We followed this road east to the Rufiji River Camp, which is the closest camp to the Mtemere Gate on the east, with direct access to Dar-es-Salaam. We remember heading to Rufiji River Camp, we experienced an evening setting of the sun downing on the west causing beautiful orange sparkles on the miombo and plain grassland.
The overnight at Rufiji River Camp was very nice. Apart from the humble hospitality of the camp, the view of the camp perched on the hill overlooking the Rufiji River was spectacular. In the morning we could see the grunting hippos on the sandy banks and one in particular lying at a distance as if dead but just as we regurgitated our thoughts, the hippo as if telepathically read our mind, awoke and got back on its four feet and started walking towards other hippos. The camps on the north eastern section of the Selous include the Rufiji River Camp, Selous Safari Camp, Selous Mbega Camp and Mbuyu Safari Camp. In the morning, as we drove back west to Selous Safari Camp, we met up with a group of guests preparing for an all day walking safari with an armed ranger. In Selous, many opt for a wilderness trek, making it possible to encounter wildlife such as leopards that are very shy who are most likely found around lakes and rivers. The Selous Safari Camp area was wonderful with a downward sloping beachfront view of the river. In the distance, we saw fish-eagles perched high on palm trees, and a herd of waterbucks and elephants around the camp's vicinity
Boating and Sundowner on the Rufiji River
The camps in the Selous Game Reserve operate a guided safari on the Rufiji River on boats that are made from aluminum with outboard engines. The Rufiji River boating is an amazing experience, and normally lasts two hours from approximately 4 pm to 6 pm. It combines adventure with romance. The adventure in the whole activity being that you can view hippos, crocodiles in the water or on the riverbank in their natural environment. With the approach of a boat, you can see the hippo submerge itself or assure its presence by remaining still. The large crocodiles with the presence of a boat might just lie on the sand bars with their mouth wide open and their big green eyes reflecting a sparkle when the sun shines on them. During the boat ride, other animals like the waterbuck, buffalos, zebras and giraffes can be easily seen foraging on the vegetation near the shoreline.
For ornithologists, birds on the Rufiji are the highlight. There are a documented 440 species of birds in the Selous area, and hundreds are easily seen on the river: buffalo weaver, superb starling, white backed herons, white pelicans, king fishers etc. The best places to look for the smaller and little known birds would be on the edges of the river when they would perch themselves on the overhanging tree branches
As the sun sets, the views at the close of the day couldn't have been more spectacular. A huge bright orange ball created an amazing picturesque scenery when it lined up behind the Borassus Palms, which further created a silhouette that could only be understood and felt by ones presence on the Rufiji. The ambience was one that could best be shared with a loved one, making it a memory of a lifetime.
Next Section - About Frederick Courteney Selous
Previous Section - Introducing Selous Game Reserve
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