Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Buffalo in Tanzania, etc.

The Selous Game Reserve is still called the Selous. Nothing has changed in that regard. Which concession are you hunting and which safari company? We will be on Madaba / MA1 the last week of August, into September. And, why on earth are you flying from Arusha to the Selous? We are flying from DAR to Madaba and it is about a 45 minute flight. For what a Caravan costs per hour, I don’t want to fly it any farther than necessary.

CAelknuts,

Yes, the Selous is still "called" that by many, but was officially renamed by the Tanzanian government in 2019 as the Nyerere National Park.

I would suspect the reason for flying from Arusha has something to do with the booking agent, but who knows? Flying from Dar Es Salaam is indeed much quicker and cheaper.

Actually, I am told by several operators that the portion of the Selous that still allows hunting is referred to as the Selous , but that the portion that is park is now referred as Nyerere National Park. I’m also told that the photo companies and park like to call the entire area Nyerere Park. I guess “Different Strokes for Different Folks” applies. A portion of the Selous, mostly the western portion extending from the south-western boundary of MA1, was taken from various operators and turned into Julius Nyerere National Park. The areas which were not taken and where safaris are still conducted are properly still referred to as the Selous Game Reserve from what I’m told.

The other big development which has affected the Selous is the construction of Steiglers Gorge Dam, which was built by the Chinese. It is now filling and turning something like 60 miles of the Ruffigi River into a lake.

The unit we are hunting, MA1/Madaba, sits almost dead center in the big contiguous block in the north-eastern half of the Selous where hunting still takes place. The national park borders this unit on the southwest and the new lake is backing up along the north border between MA1 & unit U1. It is going to be interesting to see how this affects the concession as it’ll also back up into the forks of the Madaba River. The camp is along the north fork of the Madaba, and should remain comfortably upstream of where the water backs up. MA1 is approximately 468,000 acres but I’m not sure how much smaller it’ll be after the dam completely fills. He may lose 10-15% of the area.

I wonder how successful Nyerere Park will ever be for tourism, as the weather isn’t as nice as in the Masailand or Serengeti areas. It is humid, hotter and has an abundance of Tsetse flies. These attributes aren’t as tourist friendly as the higher elevation parks farther north.

Yep! And it's harder to get to in some ways.

It’s generally much easier and cheaper to the Selous if traveling through Dar. Charters are shorter and thus cheaper. Mine was only about 1’15”. Was in camp 3 hours after landing in Dar.

Y’all are all 100% right about Dar vs Arusha, but some unique circumstances are taking me through Arusha. That being said, I’m hunting with Cloete & West, and will be just outside the Selous. They were very clear that Dar was much cheaper, but in this case, it is what it is. We’ll be staying at legendary lodge in Arusha, and flying to Likuyu.

One of the interesting things that happened to our group when hunting the Selous a few years ago is that we landed briefly in Arusha before going on to Dar. I was sitting on the side of the plane where the luggage came off, and noticed my rifle case being unloaded--among others in our group. One of us cell-phoned the booking service which handled our trip, and they had a representative at the airport--and within a short time our cases came back and were loaded on the plane.

Just one of the advantages of using an experienced hunting-travel agency.....

Funny that you mention “it’s harder to get to in some ways”. I know you were referring to park visitors, but it reminded me of a conversation with Alan Vincent a couple weeks ago about his crew heading into MA1, which is new to him. Since they are starting from scratch, they started out from DAR a couple weeks ago. They were the first company to head into the Selous from the south.

Due to a very wet and persistent rainy season, it took them a week to get from DAR to Ramoni’s old campsite on the Madaba River. Thick, high grass, washed out roads, downed trees and difficult river crossings took longer than they expected. After a couple days working on the campsite, they headed back out to a village on the edge of the Selous where they will establish a base for storage containers to hold the camp during the off-season. Alan headed toward them from DAR with a couple low bed trucks loaded with storage containers, a large tractor and other support equipment. It took his crew 4 days to get from camp to the village. They’re now hauling camp from the village out to the camp location.

Yeah, it’s a little harder to get to Nyerere Park or the Selous than it is to go to Tarangire or Ngorongoro.

Not hunting, but wife and I went on photo safari through three Tanzania parks in 11 days as covid was winding down. Tourism was down 85%, so it was just us and another couple on a Gate I "small group tour" - normally up to 17 or so.

You are gonna love Tanzania if that is your choice. Good luck on your bookings and hunt. Wish I could afford it. I'd like the hunt, but not the trophy/taxidermist/import fees. Would have to build a trophy room too.... . Guess I'll stick with my cull-corner and garage.

Tarangire (sp? ) NP, I think..



Ngorogoro Caldera. 30 yards. No fuggin way I was getting out of the vehicle, no matter what he said, even if I was allowed... He was claiming it was really "a petting zoo... honest!"

Yes, las, Tanzania is a very wonderful place. This will be my 4th visit to the country and 3rd hunt there. In 2019, we visited Tarangire before our hunt started. As you know well, it is a very neat, special place.

Make it 4.... Tarangiri, Mayata (sp?), Sarengeti, and Ngorogoro.

Show offs in the Serengeti....

Las, it’s Manyara.

cannot remember that for anything, for some reason!

Tarangiri is hit and miss too!