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Selous
Game Reserve covers over 50,000 square kilometers, it
is the largest game reserve in Africa, There are over
51,200 elephant, 109,000 buffalo and big herds of other
large and small animals found in Africa, most importantly,
some wild dog the Selous is another park with all this
hyperbole which is desperately unsold. Selous is one
of those places that calls you back, one of Africa's
great parks for sure we also think is one of the most
subtle. Selous Game Reserve is the place where people
enjoy dosing off to the sound of a fish eagle as much
as they do chasing around the bush in search of big
game, the winding Rufiji River, sunset over the Beho
Beho mountains is what makes Selous a special place,
especially when you compare it with the typical race
around the Northern Parks of Tanzania.
 
Unlike
most of the other major safari parks of Tanzania, Selous
is at low altitude. Being near to the coast, this means
that the climate of the area is similar to that prevailing
in coastal circuit, which is to say that it is a typical
tropical climate, hot and humid all year round. In Selous
there are over 789,000 major mammals, 40% of the total
in Tanzania and perhaps 9% of the total world Elephant
population.
Most
of these elephant spend their time in the inaccessible
swamps which occupy the majority of the park, but there
are usually plenty in the game-viewing areas to the
North as well as 2500 - 3500 lion, there are also wildcat,
servalcat, caracal and leopard, there are also so many
giraffe in some areas, additionally the rivers play
host to large populations of hippo and crocodile, as
well as an elusive population of dugong down in the
Rufiji delta
Selous
Game Reserve was first set aside as a wildlife reserve
as early as 1905, the park takes its name from renowned
hunter and soldier Frederick Courtney Selous. In 1982
the Selous Game Reserve was designated a World Heritage
Site. One of the most attractive aspects of the Selous
is the incredible diversity of the environments within
its ecosystem, miombo woodland (deciduous hardwoodland),
open grassland, rocky acacia clad hills, palm woodland,
seasonally flooded sand rivers and swamps, lakes and
riverine forest. The miombo woodland, second in biodiversity
only to the rainforest, contains a plethora of wonderful
hardwood tree families such as brachystegia, julbernadia,
isoberlina, pterocarpus (bloodwood), dalbergia (blackwood),
combretum (leadwood) in fact most of the 2,149 species
of trees and plants that are found in the reserve .
It is at its absolute best in the 'green season' (December
to June); all the trees have new leaves and flowers;
all the grasses and shrubs are luscious and in bloom,
and consequently almost every flower, animal and bird
that it is possible to see in the Selous is there in
abundance as such the reserve is ecologically one of
the most important habitats in Africa,
The
fact that Selous remains a game reserve rather than
a national park is one of the main reasons that walking
safari is still permitted. This is fantastic news, because
to approach animals on foot is a completely different
experience than doing it in a vehicle. A lot more scary
for one, but very rarely dangerous so long as you do
what your guide says at all times. Don't necessarily
expect to see a great variety of large game whilst out
on a walk, you usually don't cover enough ground for
that, but enjoy the detail of the flora and fauna, whilst
bearing in mind there might be a huge bull elephant
around the next corner.
The
park is pretty seasonal, although as we always say,
"there is no bad time to be in the bush.
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