Located in Southern Tanzania, the Selous Game Reserve is Africa's largest reserve, measuring 50,000 km2 and is relatively undisturbed by human impact. This World Heritage Site is one of the last great wilderness bastions; here you enter the Africa of millenia past where the continent's great creatures roam. The park has a variety of vegetation zones, ranging from dense thickets to open wooded grasslands. The rivers and lakes of the Selous are the lifeblood to a park that hosts phenomenal volumes of game including Africa's largest elephant and wild dog populations and probably its largest buffalo, hippo, crocodile and lion prides. 

By air, the Northern Selous is defined by the Rufii River. A mile wide in places, its courses are deeply carved in the soft sandy soil and visible for miles as you approach by light aircraft. Any tracks here are beaten not by the small number of visitors that come to stay, but by the feet of generations of hippos and elephant whose influence has shaped the landscape, at least as much as the river. And the scenery changes quickly, in a matter of a few miles miombo woodland - home to hartebeest, zebra and herds of buffalo - gives way to wide grassy valleys, strangely reminiscent of English park land; thick stands of doum palms reveal glittering lakes burgeoning with life of all kinds.

Sand rivers, literally rivers of dry sand bleached white and littered with the sculptural forms of dead leadwood trees, are one of the most alluring aspects of this area. They are also a magnet to game, drawn to the fresh water that flows beneath the surface.

This area is home to all the major mammal species - lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and even the very elusive black rhino.

The Selous wildlife is all the more interesting as it attracts both east and southern African wildlife, both resident and migratory, and over 440 known species of birds.  Lion are particularly strong here and there are large numbers of leopard.  The park is home to over 50% of the endangered African wild dog left on the continent and also hosts very good buffalo, giraffe, eland, hyena, sable, hippo, crocodile, kudu, baboon, wildebeest, zebra, impala, hartebeest, colobus and vervet monkeys along with over 450 species of birds. Viewing game from a boat on the Rufiji River is a wonderful way to observe animals on the banks and in the water and the Selous is also a wonderful setting for a dawn walk.