Nyerere National Park or Selous Game Reserve, Southern Tanzania Destination is Africa’s largest game reserve at 45,000 sq km and larger than Denmark, Selous offers a true wilderness experience yet hosting few visitors in the south of the country. Home to over half of Tanzania’s elephant population, game drives, bush walks and boating safaris take place amongst forest, bush land and by the mighty Rufiji river, providing varied and rewarding game experiences. Selous (Nyerere) is ideal for both repeat and first time adventure visitors to Tanzania.

Selous is one of the few regions in Africa that can offer a true wilderness experience. Africa’s largest game reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is four times the size of the Serengeti – and yet remains largely wonderfully undiscovered. The northern region along the great Rufiji River attracts safari enthusiasts, while the central and south remain professional hunting territory. It is a vast wilderness area and superb for photography.

The landscape is predominantly miombo woodland of skeletal leadwood trees, with areas of grass plains, wetlands and dense forest. In the northwest of the reserve, see Stiegler's Gorge – a natural attraction that is 100m deep and 100m wide. Lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, crocodile, black rhino and African wild dog can all be found here, alongside staggering numbers of giraffe, buffalo, hippo, wildebeest, birdlife and over half of Tanzania’s elephant population.

Boat trips are a specialty in the Selous and floating quietly along on the water is magical. You will see yellow-billed storks nesting in borassus palms, baboon at the water’s edge and white-crowned plovers cleaning the teeth of crocodiles. The riverine forest is perfect for gentle rambles in search of blue samango monkeys and black and white colobus.

Driving in open 4WDs, you will see plenty of game but no other vehicle, as Selous is a very peaceful park with only a handful of small camps.

Some of the camps in the Selous offer overnight 'fly-camping' trips. Taking a maximum of eight guests, tiny mobile camps are set up in remote areas with no roads. The day’s activities tend to focus on walking or travelling by boat, with overnight accommodation in simple dome tents, with hot bucket showers rigged in trees and lavish bush dinners set out at the water’s edge.

As a game reserve, Selous doesn’t have the same restrictions as Tanzania’s national parks – and so bush walks, mobile fly camping and boat trips on the Rufiji River are all entirely possible.

Selous Game Reserve has been renamed Nyerere National Park after Tanzania's founding father Jullius Nyerere by the Tanzanian Government in 2019.

Why Visit Nyerere National Park or Selous Game Reserve, Southern Tanzania Destinations.

• In the Selous walking is encouraged and the area itself makes for some of the best walking experiences in the world.
• Boat safaris are at their best in the Selous, where wildlife can be viewed from a new perspective.
• Perfect place for fly-camping under a mosquito net with the African night sky for a ceiling.
• This is the go-to reserve for all out-of the vehicle safaris in Tanzania.
• The Selous is Africa’s largest game reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The Rufiji River is one of the largest water systems in East Africa and runs through a vast area of the Selous.
• The Selous is home to the world’s largest population of African wild dog.
• The excellent photographic opportunities.
• The minimal or zero human impact on the reserves eco-system.

Featured Nyerere National Park or Selous Game Reserve, Safari Holiday Vacation Trips