just back after 3 days at selous wilderness camp in the beautiful Selous Nat'l Park. it was all amazing and surprising in so many ways. I had been on safari before in SA and Botswana but this beat them hands down. The only niggle was arriving at a landing strip that wasn't actually at Selous. The warm welcome from Rashid made up for the 1 hour drive to the camp through the park and a bit of extra animal spotting. there is a landing strip in selous but in typical africa fashion its not quite finished even though it was promised to be done by jan 1 2011.
the camp is located on an island located on the rufiji river and is the only one there which makes it special and unique. yes you do have to travel down a long bumpy side road to get to the river where you are picked up by the smiling boat staff but who cares when you are in this part of the world.
the welcome by natasha brits and her staff is very wam and welcoming, we were also the only guests that week which was a bonus. the first impression is excellent and natasha has made the place very comfortable and practical. the 23 staff that were there were charming and always arrived with a smile and a "jambo" welcome.
the lodges are excellent and well built using local materials and people and inside the frames sits or hangs the tents. these are no normal tents but are like a canvas hotel room, made in dar es salaam, and work very well. the outside shower and bath are perfect and the solar panel warmed hot water really works. showering outside is a real pleasure but watch out for many an insect or slug. each lodge/tent has a private sitting area overloking the river and its makes a nice touch to be able to sit there and watch the river flowing at the end of your tent.
natasha produces wonderful food every day, nothing beats her pumpkin and cumin soup or her mother's recipe for steamed pudding. make sure you try both. they very kindly set up dinner in a different location every night which was very kind and a nice touch. the mozzies liked that too !
the river and park safaris were excellent and we could determine when and for how long we wanted to go for which was a bonus. having done previous safaris it does get a bit much sitting on a hard land rover bench for 5-6 hours at a time. rashid was a brilliant guide, speaks wonderfully well about the area and its animals and seemed to know the answer to mosts things. he does support arsenal which was the one negative !
we set off on a river safari one morning in their boat and it was a delightful way to spend a morning. the hippos remain my favourite animal but we didnt get too close. what we did get close to was a pair of mating lions the next day on a great safari day out in the national park with rashid. it had rained most of the night and was not the best day to see all the animals but he took us off road and then right before us sat a lion and his lioness. they had no interest in us, so rashid said, as we parked up next to them. i was the closest human and sitting 10 feet from them was a little nerve racking but it was an experience i will never forget. we sat watching each other for 15 minutes and it was a wrench to leave them. we then spent the time seeing elephants, zebra, giraffes galore, wilderbeest, waterhogs,impala .........
so in summary, this place is unique. natasha and her staff do everything they can to make your stay as comfortable and pleasant as possible so try it and enjoy.