WITH AMARA, THE SELOUS IS AN EXPERIENCE NOT A DESTINATION…

The largest game reserve in Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Selous is somewhere one gets the powerful sense of the scale of the African wilderness. Safaris here focus on exploring and experiencing the wildlife under the expert guidance of our resident guides. Your days with us are tailor designed to afford the best wildlife viewing opportunities weather you embark on guided walks, game drives in open sided vehicles, fishing excursions from our boats or late afternoon birding expeditions. With Amara, our guides passionately follow the tracks, sights, sounds and smells of wildlife big and small to provide the best Selous Wilderness Experience where every day is about the discovery of the untamed wild.

Amara Selous, a luxury boutique property in the heart of the Selous game Reserve, offers 55,000 km square of pristine wilderness, where you can find amongst others, wild dogs (rarely spotted anywhere else in Tanzania), black rhino, elephants, giraffe, buffalo, hippo and crocodiles, lion, leopard, and some 400 species of birds.

Opened in June 2010 our facilities include 12 spacious river suites overlooking the perennial African wilderness and river, deluxe size beds, air conditioning, freshly pressed linen, personal butlers and beautiful outside seating areas featuring natural plunge pools ensures that our guests experience the very best of wild Africa whilst relaxing in the lap of luxury. Additionally attached are secluded outdoor solar-heated showers where you can safely enjoy the snorts and antics of the resident hippos in the river.

Off the beaten track, yet only an hour flying time from Dar-es-Salaam, Amara Selous is the perfect blend of real bush luxury with the surrounding beauty of the African wilderness.

We offer 12 suites in total. All are spacious, river-facing suites with air-conditioning (something that in the selous during the hot months is really a necessity) Our river suites offer unimpeded views over the Great Ruaha River. All suites are widely spaced apart each with an enclave of wild bush around it to ensure the utmost privacy and seclusion. Each room has en-suite indoor bathrooms but additionally attached is an outdoor shower where guests have the option to continue their encounter of the wilderness even whilst they shower. One minute you would be in awe of the creators’ thoughtful design of a “shower head” where water plummets like a waterfall from a slab stone, and the next minute you could see a unique bird or be paid a visit by our resident elephant, George. Each suite comes with beautiful outside seating areas with a wooden viewing deck, sun-beds, and a private natural plunge pool – a blessed relief when one wants to cool down after a dusty game drive or bush walk! Our rooms also have en-suite lounges with a butler’s cabinet where guests’ personal butlers serve the morning call of tea/coffee and refreshments throughout the day. The rooms come with plush, king-sized beds on which guests are lulled to sound sleep by the sounds of the sprawling river and gently awoken by the early morning orchestra of birdsong. Possibly the best way to fall asleep and wake up to a new day of adventure and discovery.

Off the beaten track Simbazi Selous offers you a luxurious stay in the wild - full of simulation and adventure. The essence and location of Amara Selous suggests a stay of at least 3 nights so that you can relax and enjoy the property, activities and untamed Africa to its fullest. This is not a destination you want to leave quickly!

Activities include Game Drives, Walking Safaris, Boating, Bird Watching and time out just to take in the breathtaking views from your luxury accommodation, enjoy a picnic, sundowners or a candle lit dinner – all on the banks of the Great Ruaha River.

We pride ourselves in our resident team of professional and seasoned guides and rangers that passionately track the wildlife in the area, seek out surprises of hidden cats and shy plains game, and engage you - our guest with their deep understanding of the natural world that surrounds them. The team is lead by our manager, Peter Gordon, himself a seasoned guide with special interests in birding, photography and astronomy (he has a wealth of fascinating knowledge he shares with guests as they star-gaze from our telescopes). Phillip and Jeremy are our Zimbabwe-trained guides – Phillip, who is weapons-licensed, leads our walks whilst Jeremy (a private guide) expertly tracks lion and wild dog and has to be pre booked. Finally, there is Isaiah, our resident Tanzanian guide, who knows the Selous bush like the back of his hand and has a keen eye for the shyest creatures and game scuttling away or lurking around the corners of the bush.

Safaris with us focus on exploring and experiencing the wildlife under the expert guidance of our guides. Your days with us are tailor designed to afford the best wildlife viewing opportunities weather you embark on guided walks, game drives in open sided vehicles, fishing excursions from our boats or late afternoon birding expeditions. There is no set itinerary for our guests and every guests stay with us is tailor made to ensure we provide the best of what the wilderness has on offer. Also of great importance is the education that we provide. Its not about just seeing the wildlife but its about explaining how we locate them, how best to photograph them, teaching our guests all we know about the wildlife and ensuring that the guests feel completely at one with our guides. With us, you are not clients, but our guest, and part of our family and it is a privilege to extend our knowledge and share it our unique piece of paradise with you.

All our game drives are provided in spacious tailor-designed 4WD vehicles with open sides and raised seating for ideal game viewing. Games drives are best when taken early in the morning or at dusk and can be accompanied by a sunrise bush breakfast or sundowner picnic.

Our walking safaris, offer guests the rare chance to get up-close and personal with the `little five`, as well as learn about the relationship between flora and fauna and the medicinal values of the plants that thrive in the reserve. A highly educational and uniquely enlightening experience, walking safaris follow the tracks, sights, smells and sounds of animals big and small into the wild of Africa.

Situated along the riverbanks of the Great Ruaha River means Amara Selous is an ideal location for viewing endemic, aquatic and migratory birds. The river acts as a life force for abundant wildlife including a large listing of birds. Fish Eagle stay perched high above looking for prey, their familiar screech filling the air just before they dive towards their target. Water birds include Goliath Herons skimming the water’s surface in search of fish, whilst flocks of Egyptian Geese fly by and land on the banks and tickbirds groom snoozing hippos. Our property is equipped with strong binoculars and our guides love sharing their knowledge on all the bird life that is located here.

The only way to truly appreciate the African game found in and around the rivers is by boat. Theses ideally take place early morning and late afternoon in our custom-designed boats. Attention to detail is still paramount with all boats fitted with cooler containers providing guests with cool drinks and snacks whilst meandering down the Gt. Ruaha viewing the large population of resident hippos, crocodiles, fish and birdlife.

Aside from the adventure of being in the world largest game reserve and spending time on game drives, walking safaris and boating safaris, guests can relax and unwind with a number of treatments available from the Simbazi Spa. For utter relaxation these treatments can take place in the suites, so after the treatment is complete guests can stay and relax in the privacy of their air-conditioned rooms. All our treatments are provided by qualified therapists.

Not only is it the largest Game reserve in Africa, or the fact that it is a World Heritage Site; but few parks in Tanzania or southern Africa for that matter can offer the same quality or intensity of grass roots safari as the Selous Game Reserve. This is a wild country; full of wild animals where you can walk, game-drive and take river safaris. With its rivers, plains and lakes, the Selous is somewhere you get a powerful sense of the scale of the African wilderness. There is Wonderful river line wilderness, offering a variety of an experience, with vehicle, boat and foot safaris. The Selous does not welcome guests with great vistas of volcanoes and forested mountain slopes. Its landscape is flat, with a few distant hills on the horizons. But what a flatness! Its rivers do not cascade through ravines, but glide and wind their way like septuagenarians through a maze of oxbows lakes and mbuga swamps. Even at Steigler's Gorge, where the Great Rufiji is confined within a narrow granite channel.

The Selous is a gentle place, whose pace is slowed by the languid heat and humidity of the coastal region.

This is what makes the Selous a special place, especially when you compare it with the typical race around the Northern Parks of Tanzania. But don't go comparing the two safaris like for like ... the north is far more adventurous and has much more visible game, whilst the south is far more intimate, relaxed, discrete and gentle.