For this trip, we flew from St. Louis to Amsterdam and then to Dar es Salaam, with an overnight stay at the Dar es Salaam Sheraton, followed by a charter flight the next morning to a dirt and gravel air strip near Rufiji River Camp in the eastern part of the Reserve. The charter flight was not long, less than an hour, but we flew low. Although this was supposed to be the cool season, temperatures outside were in the 90s. The inside of the plane quickly heated up which, coupled with a lack of circulation and a very bumpy ride, made for some very queasy passengers. An hastier exodus from a small plane I had never witnessed.

Rufiji River Camp is a permanent tent facility (similar to Tarangire ) situated on the banks some 20 or 30 feet above the Rufiji River. Shower and restroom facilities are ensuite but otherwise the camp is sparse, at least in amenities (although the bar was well stocked). However, the Camp thrives with bird and wild life. Troops of vervet monkeys roamed freely through the Camp, bouncing up and down on the tops of tents, peering through windows and hovering over the dining area in anticipation of a dropped morsel. Although generally a placid animal, the monkeys could become aggressive if provoked, as Irene found out. Near our tent, several monkeys were gathered, grooming each other and generally ignoring us. In the middle of the group, a baby clung to the neck of its mother. Irene thought this would make a great picture and approached the group, intent on taking a close up. Immediately, the other monkeys became excited and began to clamor and jump around. Intent on taking the mother’s and child’s picture, Irene failed to notice this change in behavior. When she approached too close, the other monkeys bared their teeth and charged her. I yelled out a warning, at which time she noticed the charging animals and quickly moved away. Satisfied that they were no longer being threatened, the monkeys sped away.

On the far banks of the River, large crocodiles basked in the sun. At night, I would light up dozens of eyes with my flashlight before they would slowly slink below the water. Hippos were submerged in the River or laid on one of the sandbars visible from Camp. White fronted bee-eaters, pied, woodland and malachite kingfishers and a myriad of other birds hunted insects along the River while Goliath herons and open-billed storks waded through the waters fishing. All told, our group saw several dozen species of birds from the Camp itself, much to the delight of Irene.

The most unusual and raucous visitor to the Camp was a bull elephant. I first became aware of his presence during the first night of our stay at Rufiji. Unable to sleep, I lay awake listening to the sounds of the African night. Soon, I detected what seemed to me to be the sound of an animal foraging not far from the back of our tent. Peering out through the windows in the back of the restroom facilities, I flashed my torch about, searching for the source of the noise. Finally, I lit up a large dark body of an elephant feeding in the brush. He soon made his way past our tent and out of sight, so I went back to sleep, only to be waken later by the sounds of a large animal running through Camp. Again, I looked out but this time saw nothing. The next morning, Gary relayed that the elephant had chased one of the Camp attendants through Camp.

This was not our only encounter with this elephant. On at least one occasion, we were required to delay a game departure until he left the road. Another time, he took umbrage when another guest wandered too close, giving chase with a loud trumpeting before breaking off after a few seconds. Finally, on the day that we left Camp, he had decided to eat next to our tent, preventing the Camp attendants from gathering our luggage until he had strolled away. Although we had encountered elephants in camp before during our trips to Zimbabwe, this was the first one which had interacted to such a great degree with the human residents of the Camp.

As in the northern circuit of Tanzania, we had one set of guides for this safari. They met us in land rovers at the airstrip outside the Rufiji River Camp, and drove with us for the remainder of the safari until we flew to Zanzibar. The staple of this safari, as in northern Tanzania, was the game drive, again early morning, late morning and late afternoon. Because the Selous Game Reserve is so large, game is not as concentrated in a smaller area as we had experienced on prior safaris. Therefore, we were required to drive for longer periods of time on game drives between animal sightings. Also, since there was not a large tourist population in the Selous, those animals which we did see were not acclimated to humans and generally would not allow us to approach as close as we had on prior safaris. This made game viewing more difficult, with pictures of animals further away or, in the alternative, quite a few rear end shots. However, this did not deter any of us and we still enjoyed many remarkable sights.

In all of our trips to Africa, we have never seen a major “kill”, although we came closest during a game drive from Rufiji River Camp. In a clearing and some distance away, we saw a family of common waterbuck trotting single file up an incline towards some thick vegetation, a youngster bringing up the rear. We then saw a lioness in stalking form intently watching the antelope. Suddenly, she broke into a run, her gaze locked onto the young waterbuck. She overtook it right after they entered the vegetation. The last we saw was her leaping though the air and sailing out of sight, lost in the underbrush and trees. We heard a thud and a squeal, but saw nothing more. We drove towards the area, but were unable to drive in due to the dense brush, nor could we see in. The only confirmation that we had of a kill was when the remainder of the pride joined her to feed, none too quietly.

Further down the road on our way back to Camp, with the sun sitting low in the late afternoon sky, we came across another lion pride which had just feasted on a zebra. Surprisingly, we were allowed to approach the lions quite closely to watch the youngsters tumble over their mothers. Soon, one of the young males climbed into a dead tree laying nearby on the ground. Watching the animal standing on the tree, a soft pink and yellow light from the sun reflecting in the background, one of our companions was moved to say that this was why he enjoyed traveling to Africa. Few other natural sights could compare to this. I agreed. In addition, two lion prides on our first full day on safari was not bad either.

Game drives in this part of the Selous turned up many animals I had already seen on prior safaris: masai giraffe, wildebeest (although not nearly in the same number as encountered on the Serengeti), hippos, Burchell’s zebra, cape buffalo, impala and birds too numerous to recite. We also added a new animal to our list, the Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, an animal similar to the Coke’s hartebeest we had seen in Tarangire and the tsesebee I had seen in Zimbabwe.

Since the Selous was a game reserve and not a National Park, walking tours were permitted, albeit with an armed ranger. Irene partook one morning while I opted for a game drive. Gary refers to these walking tours as a “3 t” expedition: trees, tracks and turds. This gives you a chance to enjoy flowers such as the desert rose or a baobab blossom on a basis closer than inside of a vehicle, as well as observe the passing of animals in the form of their tracks and excrements. On her hike, Irene encountered a herd of cape buffalo, although she assured me from behind the armed ranger, as well as a black and white colobus monkey, the first either of us has seen outside of a zoo.

We were encamped next to the Rufiji River, and the proprietor of the camp provided boat rides for his guests, a new safari experience for Irene and I. We departed in the late afternoon. The skies were overcast and the winds blew the sands across the far banks. Pods of hippos seemed to be everywhere, with the animals submerging on one side of the boat only to surface on the other or occasionally giving chase to our watercraft. African skimmers dipped low over the water’s surface, searching for food. Crocodiles basked on the sands while numerous birds perched on the branches growing from the walls of the river bank. Goliath herons took to flight, gliding majestically over the water’s surface. Borassus Palms dotted the landscape. Overall, an enjoyable experience and one not to be missed should the opportunity arise.