Created in 1922, the Selous Reserve is the world's largest nature reserve. It is three times the size of the Serengeti and larger than Switzerland! Listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site for its exceptional flora and fauna, it covers 55,000 km² at altitudes ranging from 110 to 1,250 m. It offers superb landscapes, mainly around the Rufiji river basin, whose muddy waters cross the reserve from north to south. This is the largest river basin in East Africa, covering over 177,000 km². The Rufiji flows into the Indian Ocean opposite the island of Mafia. Around 75% is reserved for hunting game (or trophies). Now, 25% of the reserve's area (the northern part) is reserved for photo safaris in the brand-new Nyerere National Park, created in 2019 and managed by Tanapa, the national authority that oversees all the country's national parks. This proportion is an improvement on when the park was created, as previously 90% of the reserve was reserved for trophy hunting and 10% for tourists.Nyerere National Park. Created in 2019 within the Selous Game Reserve, it has only a dozen lodges and camps in the tourist concession, but with the expansion of the photo safari area, tourist camps are set to grow in the future. Selous safaris are organized differently from those in the northern parks, with guests staying in a fixed camp from which they radiate outwards in a star pattern. All the lodges are on the banks of the river and organize safaris by 4×4, on foot (with an armed guard) or in a flat-bottomed boat(boat trip) on the Rufiji River, where you can observe crocodiles and hippos. Many offer overnight stays on the savannah in flycamps, seasonal camps where you sleep under the stars. On the whole, the reserve is extremely wild, so you'll see fewer animals than in the northern parks, especially as poaching is intense, but the atmosphere and sensations are very, very strong. The best time to visit is from mid-July to early November, then from late December to March.

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