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travel@pangolin.liSand Rivers in Selous, Tanzania
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home Travel directory Tanzania '03 main Sand Rivers, Selous Chole Mjini, Mafia Zanzibar |
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contact last updated: 28-Jan-2006 All text/pictures are subject to copyright by pangolin.li |
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 Selous, though no one really knows this, is the biggest protected wildlife area in the whole of Africa - thus well worth a visit... The Sand Rivers Lodge was described by ATR that "it is in a better position within the park than other lodges, it is more stylish and luxurious and it is more professional and competent about its game-viewing." The latter really drew us there, and rightly so. Only about one tenth of the Selous Game Reserve is reserved for tourists hunting game with cameras, whereas the regions South of Rufiji river are open to the ones with the rifles. And the diversity and abundance of game was impressive, even on our side. Getting there We
arrived in Dar es Salaam late at night, after a long flight from Zurich
via Amsterdam and Arusha. I was severely over-worked and felt ill. We
were booked in the local Holiday Inn - not a great start for an Africa
holiday, but convenient. The business hotel tried to disguise the lack
of charme with African fabrics and items, but still, they look the same
worldwide. But the staff was attentive, and there was a bank with
international ATM just opposite.We had seats on the daily scheduled flight booked to bring us to the Sand Rivers airstrip. The small propeller aircraft was piloted by Andries, who would stay in Sand Rivers for a few days. We left Dar in Southwestern direction, over very green foresty landscape, but then the scenery changed to drier open forest. There was only the occasional settlement, road or a lake to be seen. After ca. one hour we landed at Sand Rivers. The lodge is a 20 min drive from the Airstrip, but this was transformed to a mini gamedrive. Impalas, warthogs, baboons and a lilac-brested roller (the one bird a guide will always mention on safaris) were just the start... back to top The Sand Rivers LodgeThe lodge is situated on the slopes of a hill overlooking the Rufiji river, far away from any other lodge. The only people in the vicinity are the rangers in charge of the Black Rhino project upstream, and the occasional hunters across the river.The main building hosts the lounges, dining area, sun decks and a swimming pool. The interior is elegant, but not the wallpapery chic of more recent lodges. There are eight chalets made of thatched stone structures, usually open to the river. Ours was No. 5, close to the main building, but this was no problem at all, not only because we were the only guests for a few days. On contrary, it made the morning walk across the elephants a bit shorter :-) Only the bushbaby didn't care about tourists and cried the whole night long. The furnishing consists of a big bed with mosquito net and fan, two armchairs looking towards the river, a table, and a cupboard. In a separate room behind the bed is the bathroom, furnished with care. The best thing about the room was its view: We could see across the broad Rufiji river and surrounding area - so the laziest gamedrive was the one in the armchair! We saw hippos, giraffes, elephants, various antelopes - all from our armchairs.
FlycampingOne of the nights was not spent in our room, but out flycamping. We left the lodge in the late afternoon and were given a lift with the landrover. Accompanied by our guide and an armed ranger, we then walked in a sand river for about an hour until we reached the campsite which the staff had prepared. This must have been the true safari feeling of old: tents, folding chairs, but also a well-stocked bar to enjoy the last light and the rise of the full moon.We enjoyed a candle-light dinner and then just sat and listened to the things moving around us. In the morning, we were woken up by the staff preparing breakfast and water for the hot bucket shower, but also by the lone elephant who was browsing near to our tents. The fly-camping excursion also allowed us to reach much further into the park on the next day - a long drive but with many highlights like African Wild Dogs, a lioness, but also buffalo carcasses thick with vultures. back to top GameviewingCheck out the gallery for more pictures!There are several ways of approaching game on offer in Sand Rivers, apart from the armchair gamedrive. You can have the usual 4x4 gamedrive, a boat gamedrive, game walks and flycamping. We of course tried everything - a huge pro of Sand Rivers compared to other lodges. The lodge offers easy access to several kinds of habitats: the river which is navigable until Steigler's Gorge some 8 or 12 kms upstream. The floodplains of Rufiji River - at the time of our stay a network of dry sand rivers. Then there are several lakes which provided water (but not grass) also after the 18 months drought. To the Northwest there are the Beho Beho hills - this is where we saw clouds, but it never rained. The drought was the most defining feature of the safaris: Game could be seen all over near the river, but the land was bare and trampled. Hippos could be seen out of the water during the day to get food, and buffalos who rely on certain - missing - kinds of grass where starved or dying. There were patches of bright green, but this seemed to be palatable only to very few animals. All in all, we saw much more dead animals than in other parks - partly due to the drought, but also to the fact that there was less human intervention. However, with vultures and hyenas being comparably abundant, this didn't seem to be a problem. back to top
Game drives: The diversity and also quantity of animals was enormous. Very impressing were the many elephants - much more than we had ever seen in Krueger, let alone Etosha, where I hadn't seen a single one. The most special species, however, where the African Wild Dogs we saw on our flycamping excursion. The pack, looking a bit like a bunch of sleek tortoise-shell coloured mongrels, was resting in the shade of trees and trying not to take obvious notice of us. We watched them twice for 20 or 30 minutes, and they didn't move away. Other big game seen during the game drives included a lion, a lioness, a glimpse of a leopard, another glimpse of an eland, a very rare bush pig and really countless giraffes, wildebeest, impalas, buffalos and vultures. Boat trips: The boattrips gave a different point of view: hippos and crocs, but also big herds of elephants, giraffes, red hartebeest, a pair of fish eagles - but no black rhinos :-( Sand Rivers is one of the sponsors of the Selous Black Rhino Protection Project, whose main ranger post is located between Sand Rivers and Steigler's gorge. A response to a huge blast of poaching in the 1980ies, killing 75% of the 120'000 elephants and almost all of the 3000 black rhinos, the government and individuals decided to start the Rhino project in 2002 in order to monitor the rhinos' numbers and habits, as well as to keep poachers at bay. More information on the Project on the Save the Rhino pages. Game Walks: Game walks usually do not focus on big game, but more on the small animals and plants - which of course was also true for the walks in Selous - and our guide Festo would know a story about each and everything, having lived in the region for many years. However, with this abundance of elephants, we once almost stumbled into a 20-head family. We stood put like frozen, but the elephants just went on browsing, filing all past us in a distance of maybe 50 m. We almost forgot about the crocodile in the lake in our back, just a few meters away. We also watched two hyenas tearing apart the carcass of a hippo, just across the lake. Looking back, the Selous probably offered the most complete game viewing of all of our trips. Complete it with the chimpanzees in Mahale and the migration in the Serengeti, and there won't be much left to see outside of Tanzania - well, except maybe of gemsbok and desert-dwelling elephants... From Selous, we flew on to Mafia and Chole Mjini. back to top Go to:
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