Selous Game Reserve; a place you should visit not just once

As far as tourism is concerned, the African continent appears to have three major attractive spots. Some visitors go to the Arab North to see what Egypt, Morocco or Tunisia have to offer. Others go down south to South Africa, Namibia or Zimbabwe. The other area worth visiting is of course the East African region. The East African region presents attractions that are quite rich and diverse. We don’t just have wildlife; we have the wildebeest migration and mountain gorillas. We don’t just have stunning physical features; we have the Nile and Kilimajaro. Bird lovers can almost curse each time they blink because there is simply too much to see, you wouldn’t want to close your eyes for a second. Last month I got the chance to visit one of East Africa’s best kept secret – the Selous in southern Tanzania. It was named after an English conservationist, Sir Fredrick Selous who died in the game reserve in 1917. The game reserve was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 due to the diversity of its wildlife and undisturbed nature.I will be honest with you; I had never heard of the Selous until around the end of last year when a South African tour operator and friend, Sharmaine Naidoo, mentioned it while we were having breakfast inside Kidepo Valley National Park in North Eastern Uganda.The Selous Game Reserve covers over 54,600 square kilometres and has additional buffer zones. To put this into context, the total land area that makes up Rwanda and Burundi is 54, 171 square kilometres. You can pause for a moment to digest that piece of information. Getting thereMy journey to Selous (the last S is not pronounced) started with a bus ride from Kigali to Nairobi via Kampala. It is a 24 hour ride and I must say over the years it is no longer as treacherous now that most of the roads are smooth and more comfortable cross border buses ply the route.I spent some time in Nairobi before boarding a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam. There is that wake up moment when you eventually step outside the glass doors of the Julius Nyerere International Airport when you suddenly realise it is way much hotter and humid than Kigali, Kampala or Nairobi.To get into Selous Game Reserve we boarded a Cessna Caravan aircraft from Dar es Salaam airport to an airstrip close to Stigler’s gorge. Soon after takeoff you can see urban Dar slowly disappearing to give way for the vast wilderness that is Selous. From above, your eyes are overwhelmed by the sight of this large expanse of Miombo woodlands, open grasslands, forests, swamps, lakes and meandering rivers. The Selous has over seven airstrips and Stiegler is one of them. As soon as we landed at Stiegler’s, our hosts (Serena Hotels staff) made sure that we each took a glass of cold fresh juice to cool us down and prepare us for a close up interaction with the game reserve. Sitting in open air jeeps we were slowly driven to the Mivumo Serena River Lodge located on the banks of River Rufiji. We were each ushered to our chalets (that is what the wonderful accommodation facilities are called) so we could put our bags down and freshen up. Each chalet has most of what you expect from a Serena property, but what will blow your mind is that there is a Jacuzzi and an outdoor shower. Yes I enjoyed using the outdoor shower if only to show off my body to the wild animals that bothered to stare. A shy baby Maasai giraffe hiding in the woods. (Allan B Ssenyonga) The game drive Game drives inside the Selous are very different from what any regular tourist can expect. First of all, because of the size of the reserve meeting another tourist vehicle is quite rare. You tend to feel like the whole reserve is yours to explore exclusively.We drove towards Lake Tagalala where we saw more crocodiles than I could count. Many were only showing us their eyes while the rest of their lethal body remained underwater as they waited to unleash their mighty jaws on the next unlucky animal. Lots of hippopotami could also be seen enjoying a Jacuzzi moment in the lake.In other areas we stopped to marvel at the height and beauty of the Maasai giraffes. In some areas we found lots of trees that had fallen after a large herd of elephants passed by. When it comes to numbers, this game reserve has larger numbers than in any other African game reserve of national park.The highlight of our game drive was when we found three lions, and then another two and later a lone lion and eventually a couple that seemed to be in a romantic mode too. And as fate would have it, the lion and lioness decided to get on with lovemaking without asking us to give them space. Can you imagine?The game reserve has a hot spring but you have to get out of the car and walk to it. And this was not so far from where we left the lions so as we walked I was thinking of why I have not yet written a will because I kept thinking one of those lions was going to come and attack the person who the blinked the least as they made love.The boat ride along River RufijiWe also took a boat ride along River Rufiji, a river I had last heard of during geography lessons. Anyway this was a good time to come even closer to the hippos and the crocodiles while suppressing any thoughts that start with what if.You don’t want to imagine what it is like having to swim in waters that have both crocodiles and hippopotami. That is like playing Russian roulette with two bullets in the gun.On the river banks we were able to see baby crocodiles. They look like well fed geckos and yet they will soon grow into one of the most skilful predators in the animal world.It is also important to know that the tourist facilities in the Selous game reserve are not open throughout the year. At some point the rivers fill up with water, the small streams swell and the floodplains turn into temporary lakes. This makes the lodges inaccessible and the airstrips also become wet and risky to use.Tourists can also go for guided game walks in the evenings or simply sit and watch the sun retire behind the forests that cover the river bank while sipping on their favourite drinks and listening to interesting safari tales from the staff or fellow tourists. The place we stayed at was built for extreme relaxation away from the city life. There is no television and the wifi is only accessed from the dining area. The Selous is the kind of place that deserves more than one slot on your bucket list.Allan Brian Ssenyonga is a freelance journalist

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Selous Game Reserve; a place you should visit not just once