Having completed a safari in the “northern circuit” of Tanzania in 1991, we returned to Tanzania in 1998 with Gary Clarke for a tour of the “southern circuit”, which is comprised of the Selous Game Reserve, Mikumi National Park and Ruaha National Park. Unlike the northern circuit, the southern circuit is sparsely traversed by safari-goers, due largely to the fact that it is not as easily accessible, there are not as many tourist facilities and the temperatures are much warmer. The result is an opportunity to explore an unspoiled Africa away from the crowds, and seeing it in much the same state as early explorers.

The Selous Game Reserve, at 50,000 square kilometers the largest protected game area in East Africa, is a United Nations World Heritage site and may be the most natural wilderness remaining in all of Africa. Only that portion of the Reserve north of the Rufiji River is open to tourists, with the southern portion left undeveloped and open only for limited hunting. Annual visitors are numbered in the low thousands. Three-fourths of the Reserve consists of miombo woodland, with the remainder comprised of grassy woodlands, riverine forests and short grassy plains. Absent from the Reserve are the acacia trees of the northern savannas, replaced with trees such as the Brachystegia and Borassus Palms. Black soil patches, or mbugas, dot the plains which, during the rainy season, become flooded and difficult to impossible to traverse. The rainy season is from December to May, with a drier spell occurring during January and February. During the heavy rains, the Reserve is inaccessible and tourist facilities are closed. We visited the Reserve in October, which purportedly is the cool season, if “cool” is defined as 90° F+.

The Reserve was named in 1922 in memory of Frederick Courteney Selous, a famous English explorer who was killed near Beho Beho on January 4, 1917 during a World War II battle between the Germans and English. A simple iron plaque, embedded in concrete, marks his grave.

The Selous Reserve traces its roots to 1905 when the German Colonial Government began creating several small game reserves in the area. After World War I, Tanganyika became a British Protectorate and the reserves were expanded. The expansion continued even after Tanganyika became independent. In the 1962 Arusha Manifesto, the Tanganyika government outlined its conservation policy:

The survival of our wildlife is a matter of grave concern to all of us in Africa. These wild creatures amid the wild places they inhabit are not only important as a source of wonder and inspiration, but are an integral part of our natural resources and of our future livelihood and well-being.

In accepting the trusteeship of our wildlife we solemnly declare that we will do everything in our power to make sure that our children’s grandchildren will be able to enjoy this rich and precious inheritance.

The conservation of wildlife and wild places calls for specialist knowledge, trained manpower and money, and we look to other nations to cooperate in this important task – the success or failure of which not only affects the continent Africa but the rest of the world as well.

From my tour of Selous, it appears to me that the Reserve is an example of Tanzania’s success.

During this safari, we stayed at two locations in the Reserve, Rufiji River Camp and Sand Rivers Camp.