Zanzibar to Selous Safari
After having a great time lolling in the white sandy beaches of Zanzibar and swimming in the ocean, you might feel that you need to go for a safari, because your holiday is never complete without a safari expedition in Tanzania. However, if you have just a day to catch the animals and you do not want to go to the crowded Northern Safari circuit, you can opt for a safari in the Selous Game Reserve.
Reaching Selous Game Reserve is easy as there are flights from Zanzibar to Selous. You need to board the aircraft from Stone Town and you will be taken to the Mtemere air strip in Selous. After a 6 hour safari you will be brought back to Zanzibar in the evening.
What to expect in Selous:
Not many know that Selous is a lot bigger than Serengeti. It is a conservation area that spreads around 50,000 square kilometres. Though it is huge, it is one of the least visited safari parks in Tanzania. Selous is also an UNESCO world heritage site.
The game that you can find here are many. It has the most elephants in the whole African continent, though the number greatly reduced in the decades of the 70’s and 80’s when the animal was poached for its ivory. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 elephants in Selous alone. Other animals that you can come across on your safari are lions, leopards, zebras, giraffe, rhinos, hippopotamus, hyena, eland etc. You will also come across buffalos in this reserve as they are in the thousands here. And if you like bird watching then this is the best place to visit in Tanzania. There are an estimated 440 species of birds here. You can come across vultures, parrots, owls, herons, cuckoos, bee-eaters, storks and many more.
The beautiful landscape of the Selous Game Reserve and the diversity in it is unmatched. The Great Ruaha and the Rufiji rivers flow through this landscape. There are many lakes in this reserve plus you can even come across hot volcanic springs. The ideal way to enjoy the Selous is through a walking safari. Many tourists have commented that the walking safari in Selous beats all the other safaris in other places by a distance. The peace and quiet and the animals in their habitat is a joy to behold.
The best time to visit Selous Game Reserve:
The best time to visit Selous Game Reserve is from the month of June until the month of October. This is the dry season in this part of the world and all the animals come to the watering holes for water. The vegetation also becomes thin in the dry season making sighting animals easier. The low season is from March to May and it is difficult to navigate as it is the rainy season.
If you want to stay in the reserve and view animals for a few more days, you can do so as there are many lodges along the Rufiji river.