Southern Safari July 2007 Trip Report

Let me remind you about the Selous Game Reserve. When combined with the Niassa Game Reserve it becomes one of the largest and most important biological ecosystems in Africa. It includes the world's largest remaining miombo (deciduous) forest and two of the most significant intact elephant ranges in all of Africa. It shelters the largest populations of elephant, Cape buffalo, and Sable antelope in Africa. That's a lot of hype which results in raised expectations, but when you visit you must be prepared for wary wildlife. Animals are simply not as habituated to man as they are in Northern Tanzania. In the Selous' case, hunting is allowed and this impacts wildlife's skittishness as well. They know enough to keep their distance. You therefore have many opportunities for action photography using 1000^th of a second shutter speed. I practiced on graceful, airborne impala. While reviewing all my photos, however, I realized just how much wildlife we nevertheless saw under these different circumstances—elephants, giraffe, baboon, hippos and crocodiles (more hippos and crocs imaginable), wildebeest, mongoose, hyena, and kudu.

A different set of rules applies to game driving in the south. Drivers/guides don't have radios with which to communicate with one other as they do in the north. Since they cannot rely on hearing about a sighting, they must be knowledgeable about wildlife. A place like the Selous, and Ruaha National Park too to a certain extent, like to uphold their reputation of isolated pristine bush. If, for example, a second vehicle approaches where you are observing, its driver typically waits until you are finished. Drivers jockeying for the best views for their clients, which is what happens at a leopard sighting in the Serengeti, is just not done in the south—at least it isn't happening yet. As the south develops more of this is certain to occur. The first signs of it will be vehicles equipped with radios.

Two wildlife sightings stand out during our Selous visit: While everyone rested before a late afternoon game drive, a large elephant fed on Borassus palms very close to one of our tents. The tent's occupants stayed quiet to watch it out their screened entrance flap while the rest of us observed from the safe distance of the mess tent. When the elephant finally smelled us, it panicked, turned tail, and ran back into the bush as quickly as we had sprinted from the hippo on the walking safari.

The second memorable sighting was a large collection of giraffes drinking at Lake Manze. I have a record giraffe sighting of 40 altogether in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This placed a close second.

There are many new luxury tented camps in the Selous. I still prefer to private camp. My operator set his camp at a superb spot on Lake Mzizimia's shores. Our camp fire and chairs faced magnificent sunsets. We listened to bellowing hippos at night and at dawn, the throbbing hums of Southern ground hornbills. Selous' sunsets and sunrises some of the best anywhere in Tanzania.

When I lived in Dar es Salaam, the route from the Selous through the Uluguru Mountains to Morogoro was poor. It included an Mgeta River crossing that was best attempted only in the dry season. The route can still give you trouble, but at least the problem of the river has been solved with the opening of a bypass.

It is wonderful long day's drive to Morogoro through the Uluguru Mountains—made shorter if you stay closer to the reserve's other entrance at Matambwe—through scenic forests, and friendly colorful villages where you can stop and buy oranges, bananas, sugarcane to gnaw on in the car, or millet juice, a local specialty. It would be perfect to overnight along this route if there was a guesthouse with a good grassy garden to pitch tents. It is on my list of things to do to find such a stop next time I pass through Uluguru.

We hit some bad luck in Mikumi National Park. One day before we arrived, a controlled burning out of control swept over the park. You will always encounter controlled burning when you travel in the dry season, but usually only sections of parks are burned at a time. In this case, however, there wasn't much left in Mikumi, either of landscape or of wildlife, with the exception of a singularly beautiful family of elephants. Thankfully, our tented lodge where we were booked remained intact. We checked in early and nursed our disappointment with cold beer and a swim in the pool. "Dirty Harry", a lone bull elephant, grazed below the lodge early next morning.

I consider Ruaha National Park the safari's highlight. We camped there too, at a site known as Kilima Mitonge which overlooks a "sand river" for which the Selous Game Reserve and Ruaha National Park are known. Sand rivers are raging torrents during the rainy season and seemingly dry river bottoms during the dry season. Trapped beneath the sand however, by impermeable rock, is water for thirsty game to uncover when they need it the most. Apart from bees which temporarily swarmed in the tree where we hung the bladder shower, no wildlife was seen from camp. Game drive sightings easily compensated for that, especially on what came to be known as "Simba Day" due to the number of lion sightings we racked up.  We first watched three to five lionesses at a water hole. Their kill of early morning was a few hundred meters away, left for the vultures by the time we arrived. As the females moved off three handsome young males showed up for a long drink. (They drank steadily for ten minutes!) Other female members of the pride were nearby. One was a mother of three cubs, thought to be barely three weeks old. They mewed, like domestic cat kittens. That same afternoon we saw a lioness hunting along the Ruaha River, the male which followed her detrimental to her two heroic efforts to bring down impala. As we headed back to camp, we came across a dead Cape buffalo guarded by three lion brothers. It didn't appear that the lions made this kill. The truth may be that the buffalo traveled into the park to die from wounds suffered by a poacher's bullet. (Buffalos are tough animals.) We returned shortly after dawn to watch a lively drama played out for hours between the feeding lions and the hyenas, jackals and vultures intent on stealing the leftovers.

The Kilombero canoe safari was an exploratory one. I must thank all my tour members for being such good sports about it. From Ifakara village we drifted down the river in a local dug-out paddled by a Kilombero River fisherman. Passing little fishing villages, spotting birds of Tanzania's largest wetlands like fish eagles, egrets, pelicans, bee-eaters, kingfishers, cormorants, skimmers and plovers, we enjoyed sunset from the water. Arriving at dusk at the boundary of the Selous Game Reserve we found a camp waiting for us. Another dug-out had gone ahead with camping equipment. In the morning we tried our hand at fishing the traditional way, with line and baited hook, and we made a visit to a nearby fishing village. After lunch, we began our return to Ifakara. This was slower going because the canoe now fought the current. We made camp on a sandbank in the middle of the river. We made Ifakara by noon on the third day after a very early start. This safari would appeal to truly adventurous souls. Being impervious to the pain of sitting long hours in the bottom of a canoe under a very hot sun is also a requirement. Elephants are possible sightings at certain times of the year. We did see hippos and some of my guests said they heard lions at night from the campsite by the Selous. I think it has great potential with some adjustments. I hope to return next summer and improve it.

A final word about Mang'ula village at the entrance to Udzungwa National Park. Not only is it the base for forays into Udzungwa, one of Tanzania's newest protected areas of endemic forests, primates, birds, reptiles and amphibians, Mang'ula also makes an ideal base for a Kilombero canoe safari. Mang'ula came at the end of our southern safari. It was a perfect place to relax and experience the lively culture of a friendly Tanzanian town. The Udzungwa Mountain Guesthouse where we bunked is an extremely simple place but there is something about it which satisfied everyone. I would stay longer next time. Photographer Will didn't join the canoe safari. He climbed to the Sanje Waterfalls in Udzungwa National Park from where, if you camp overnight (another great idea for a southern safari), you overlook the Kilombero Valley far below. There are no roads in Udzungwa National Park, only hiking trails. You must be fit to undertake these.

05-10-2007