Not sure if this a trip report, let me know if it is, and I hope it helps.
This is linked to my posts: "Photos from Selous, Pt2, June 2010" & "Photos from Selous & Ruaha, June 2010". Please see the rest of my Selous photos as I download then early this week, they should, I hope reinforce some of the following:

2-3 nights in the Selous? NO! 4-5 nights in the Selous? An absolute YES!

The Impala camp (Selous) was a mix of “fly” camping in tents and staying in the main tented camp. Options are available to do both or either. I was looking for a relaxed, African feel rather than top western-style luxury. Managed by Adventure Camps and with a distinct Italian influence, it definitely provided good quality service & food, and for me, was exactly the sort of base from which to experience all the activities and adventures that I had. My ethos is very much to spend my money on the best locations rather than the top-priced camps and I think I achieved this. A Gin & Tonic and nibbles on the veranda as the African sun sets is no less wonderful!

The greatest benefit in Selous was that I had a vehicle with 2 guides all to myself for the full 5 days, partly I guess because of the dates but also part of the camps own service levels. It is less well known, and for our wild dog sightings, we were the only vehicle for miles around. The maximum number of other vehicles that I saw in any given day was 5, but they did their thing and we did ours! Selous is truly massive.

It was great to spend a full 5 days with the same people, whether sleeping out or staying in the main camp. It allowed the guides to share their enthusiasm and knowledge, as well as for them to adjust to my own levels of knowledge and appetite. The one on one relationship fully enhanced the whole experience.

The Selous reminded me a little of the Linyanti/Moremi region in North Botswana for the scale and wilderness. The Rufiji River is big, lots of water & lakes and then great areas of bush land. They offer great boat trips up the river, loads of birds, hippos, buffalo, crocs and elephant all along the river bank. There's a great mix of landscapes which meet the river, from semi-open plains, small forested areas, woodlands, hillsides and slopes to the Selous mountains.

Staying in the fly camp was an excellent experience, with very freindly attentive camp staff. We took an early morning 3 hour bush-walk, seeing things from the ground-up, including finding Colobus monkeys. I’m not a great walking safari fan, but one long walk was very good when added to the rest of the trip.

One of the real benefits to the Selous is that it’s a Reserve and truly massively wild. Although not encouraged, vehicles are allowed off road for the big 5 as well as any special sightings (dogs etc). One of the best things that I found was that you could follow a particular group of animals and see them interact over a period of time. Examples would be following a herd of elephant mums, adolescents and calves as they browsed their way down to the river to drink, mud wallowing and playing as they went.

Personally, I do not think that the hunting licensed concessions make for skittish animals. I had heard the same comments made before I went. Hunting is all South of the Rufiji, whilst the photo-safaris take place along the Northern bank. The animals recognise the safety in the North.

Also, the Rufiji river is a massive magnet for all the animals, particularly later in the season as the bush dries up. Whilst the animals cannot be considered to have become habituated with the vehicles as you might find in the Kruger or Sabi Sands, my driver and guide were very, very good at approaching our sightings with minimal disturbance. A good pair of binoculars and a long camera lense will always help!

I was also very interested to hear that the hunting concessions are now pretty limited, with the Government looking to sell the concession rights more and more to photo-safari operators. Demand for these has been particularly high all along the Southern river bank. Despite the loss of top-priced dollars to the Reserve (which greatly assists in conservation, education as well as ranger acticity) that the loss of hunting fees will bring, this can only be good news.

Remember, this is not the Kruger or Sabi. This really is as close to truly wild Africa as you can get. As a result (and similar to any other experience I’ve had) the game drives were hit or miss. You have to spend time in these locations to get the full value. Any given drive may yield some birds, giraffe, zebra and impala only. However, you’ll then experience a whole day with the most wonderful sightings. On my trip, I was extremely fortunate to have wild dog, lion/leopard interacting, big buffalo and zebra herds, finishing off with Civet ALL in a single day.

Finally, I can only highly recommend the Selous, but with the caveat that it requires a minimum of 4 days to truly get the best out of the place. I was marginally cynical about the “value added” boat trips and walking, but the fly camping was superb and the combination of game drives, boat drives and walking means that I for one will be returning to experience all that the Selous has to offer again.

Yes this is a trip Report and a good one.

I went back to see your pictures posted on August 1st.

Thanks for the information and pictures.

We usually do not get that much information from Selous soit was nice reading about your adventures.

Wow - if you have some time, would love to read more about your "wild dog, lion/leopard interacting, big buffalo and zebra herds, finishing off with Civet ALL in a single day" - it sounds fantastic.
Coming back from Ruaha last year, we had to drop off some passengers at 2 Selous locations, so I got a pretty good bird's eye view of the river and some of the surrounding areas. It was very impressive and your experience seem to confirm my initial impressions. Good to hear about reduced hunting concessions too.
Thanks for the information.

sangeeta,
have alook at my posts from 4th July and 1st August. They give the write-ups for the dog hunting and lion/leopard.

The photos are on;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drjos_p...7624417602852/

P.S.
sangeeta, once you have opened one of the photsets, look to the top right and click "slideshow" that should lead you through the the photos in the cirrect order for the write-ups.

Qualifies as a trip report in my book too. Very nice sets of photographs. Love the wild dogs in particular, and that was a wonderful day for you. Good to hear your thoughts on Adventure Camp's Impala Camp (that's their "posh" camp, you know?) as I too like their 'philosophy' and when I go to Selous will almost certainly stay there or Lake Manze. Would love to see pictures of the fly camp (and I am sure I amnot alone).

kimburu. I have people and camp shots to add to the sightings, some from the dslr and some on the compact digital. I'll try and get those on flckr. this weekend.

I enjoyed your photos and really appreciate the additional information/trip report. Interesting comments about the non-skittishness of the animals. Earlier this summer I was in a part of a park in Kenya that doesn't see many tourists. I thought the animals were rather skittish--no hunting in Kenya so I think it was just that they're not used to cars or people.

Thanks! I'm going to look at your photos again.

Very good report DR. Was a bit depressed reading it as we had to cancel our Selous/Ruaha trip that was scheduled for the end of August. Now I know what we missed. But a good tip about staying longer in one place and when we re-sked we will do that. Nice pix too. I also would love to see pictures of the camps. Very helpful when trying to figure out where to book. Hope it's true that the hunting camps are dwindling.

Selous Impala main & fly camp photos and descriptions are now on flckr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drjos_p...326754/detail/
DRJO

Excellent photo of the guides smiling at you from the breakfast table with the morning light just behind them.

By the way, your bird pics are lovely.

Thanks for that! Your pictures are better than the ones on their web site. The fly camp looks great.

Many thanks for your compliment Leely2. Is there any chanse of helping me out with identifying some of the birds?
I have (I think!):
White-fronted Bee-eater, Yellow-billed Stork, ?, African Open-billed Stork, African Fish Eagle, Black-chested Snake Eagle?, Brozewinged Coursers, White-backed Vulture (I think), ?, Lilac Breasted Roller, Red-necked Falcon?, Bateleur, Goliath Heron, Pied Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Stork, Cattle Egret, Cattle Egret & Little Egret, Openbill again, Sacred Ibis
Grey Heron, Then more of same plus Ground Hornbill, Maribu Stork
and Africa Hoopoe
It would be great if someone could assist.