Search for a safari in the Selous and you will still find plenty on offer, but the name now describes something different from what it once did. The northern, photographic portion of that enormous old reserve was gazetted as a national park and renamed after Tanzania's first president, while the southern portion kept the old name and remains hunting country closed to ordinary safari traffic. So a camp advertised as Selous almost certainly sits inside Nyerere National Park. The other change is physical. Stiegler's Gorge, the rocky defile where the Rufiji once narrowed and the only way across was a hand worked cable car left over from old survey work, is now the site of the Julius Nyerere hydropower station, with a very large reservoir behind the wall. It is not a place you visit for wildlife, but it is worth knowing the map has moved.
What remains is the reason to go, and it is water: this is the Tanzania safari built on a river rather than on plains. The Rufiji River cuts across a wilderness on a scale that is hard to picture, spreading into a chain of lakes, oxbows and palm-lined channels, and drifting those channels at water level is the thing this park does that the northern circuit cannot. A boat puts you level with hippo pods and shows you a shoreline that a vehicle only ever sees from above. Guided walking with an armed ranger is routine here rather than exceptional, which is the honest way to put it, since the northern parks do permit walking but confine it to particular zones and a handful of licensed operators. Elephant, buffalo, hippo and crocodile are constants along the water, the birdlife on the margins is superb, and the ecosystem holds one of the more significant remaining populations of African wild dog, though sightings depend on the season and are never to be expected. It pays to compare flights and hotels for Nyerere and to give the park enough nights to use the river properly.
Where you sleep decides what your days look like. Directly on the Rufiji there are tented camps and river lodges on the bank, where the boat leaves from in front of your tent and hippos are audible all night. Around Lake Manze and Lake Tagalala, a short way inland, there are camps looking out over open water from slightly higher ground, quieter and often better value, with the Maji Moto hot springs within reach. Near the Mtemere gate in the east there are simpler lodges and camps beside the entrance and its airstrip, which suits short stays and arrivals by road. Deeper in, towards the Beho Beho hills, small remote camps offer fly camping and a much stronger sense of isolation.
In practical terms this is a fly-in destination. Short scheduled flights from Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar reach the park airstrips in about an hour and camps meet the aircraft, which is how nearly every visitor arrives. Driving from Dar es Salaam is possible and takes most of a day on a route that turns rough near the boundary, so it is a decision made for cost rather than comfort. Self driving inside the park is uncommon, and the camps run the boats, the walks and the drives themselves in any case, which matters when you work out what a rate actually covers. Entry needs arranging before you fly: most nationalities require a visa, applied for online in advance rather than left to the arrivals hall, and a yellow fever certificate is asked of anyone arriving from or transiting a country where the disease is present. It costs nothing to check flight and camp prices for southern Tanzania, and consider pairing the park with Zanzibar, since the hop between them is short, the two make an obvious combination, and the islands charge their own compulsory visitor insurance on arrival.
Season here is less a preference than an opening and a closing. The dry stretch from around June into October thins the vegetation, pulls animals onto the water, firms the roads and gives the boats their best access. The heavy rains earlier in the year flood tracks and shut a good many camps altogether, so the calendar does much of the deciding for you. It is hot and it is a malaria area, both worth raising with a doctor before you travel. Personally, I would book the second half of the dry season and build the days around morning boats rather than morning drives, because the river is what this park does that nowhere else in Tanzania can.
Q: Is Nyerere National Park the same as the Selous Game Reserve?
A: Not quite. The northern photographic section became a national park under the new name, while the southern part keeps the old name and operates as hunting concessions closed to standard safaris. Camps advertised under the old name usually sit inside the national park, so check which area an itinerary actually covers before you book anything.
Q: What can you do here that is harder to arrange in the north?
A: Boat safaris on the river above all, plus guided walking with an armed ranger and night drives within some camp concessions. Walking is permitted in the northern parks too, but only in particular zones and through a small number of licensed operators, whereas here it is a standard part of the offer. Boats are simply not part of a Serengeti day at all.
Q: How do you get there, and when should you go?
A: Almost everyone flies, on a short scheduled service from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar to one of the park airstrips, with the camp collecting you from the strip. The dry months from around June into October give the best wildlife viewing, firm roads and reliable boat access. Many camps close during the heaviest rains earlier in the year, so confirm opening dates before you commit to flights.
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