Climbed into our open-air vehicle (it did have a tarp over the top, which was good since the sun is pretty hot, and off we went to the Selous Game Reserve. The Selous Game Reserve is the largest game reserve in Africa, and it is the second largest area in Africa with 50,000 square kilometers. It actually is four times bigger than the Serengeti that we're visiting later. It is remote (note: we had to fly in a 12-passenger plane to get here), and it is the least visited. Because of its elaborate and unique beauty, the Selous was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.
Maaruf told us the reserve is named after Frederick Selous, a Brit who was a hunter, and who claimed all the territory that now is Selous Game Reserve. The locals call it Shambalabibi, which means Garden of the Grandmother, a description that I like much better than Selous Game Reserve.
Hot volcanic springs, sporadic lakes and channels from the nearby rivers such as the Rhuha and Rufiji (which is directly in front of our camp) rivers provide a diverse landscape. It goes from a heavily wooded area to a more barren, dusty area.
We visited several lakes, and saw an abundant number of impala and giraffe. We saw hyenas, an elephant and her baby, hippos, some birds and, after an hour or so, we found some sleeping lions.
It was a very pleasant day. We stopped under the shade of a tree for lunch (spaghetti) before searching for the lions. Early on, we backed up and attempted to see the wild dogs others had seen.
But no such luck.
On the way to the reserve and when we returned, we drove through the village. The village looks more prosperous than the Zulu village but it is very hot, dry and dusty here compared to the green, wooded area in which the Zulu village was located.
Tanzania is interesting, and its history is much different than South Africa. The area was crisscrossed by tribal trade routes linking the Great Lakes (Victoria and Tanganyika) with the coast before any non-African arrived. The routes were the same along which Arab traders subsequently moved inland, searching for slaves and ivory.
You can see the Arab influence in the village, as about 80% of the villagers are Muslim; only 20% are Christian (there is a Roman Catholic church and an apostolic church). The women wear beautiful colored saris.
The second wave of penetration by outsiders were Europeans, who used Bagamoyo (opposite Zanzibar) as their starting point for exploration inland. The most significant visitor to the region was Karl Peters, a young man with a feverish enthusiasm for the notion of a German empire.
Peters, with two companions, spent a few weeks at the end of 1884 moving at frantic speed within the sultan of Zanzibar's mainland territories. The trio arrived in each new region with blank treaty forms and German flags. They filled in the local chief's name and persuaded him to make his mark on the document and to run up a flag. Then they moved on. Grievously under-equipped and soon short of food, they only just managed to make their way back to the coast.
But he returned to Berlin and convinced Bismarck that a German East Africa colony was there for the taking. The Germans had some scandals and early in 1916, British forces moved south from Kenya to occupy German East Africa.
Tanzania gained its independence in 1961, and Julius Nyerere, son of a chief, became its prime minister. Nyerere was a convert to Roman Catholicism while studying at Makerere college in Uganda, then he did his undergraduate studies for three years at an Edinburgh university. You can read more about the history here: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad23
Although there are several tribes in Tanzania, Swahili is the national language, mostly spoken by majority natives - most urban people speak a second language which is English. Safari guides speak additional languages including Arabic, German, French, Spanish and more.
Maaruf explained that Swahili was unifying because there were a lot of tribal languages being used so they all agreed to make Swahili the national language so they could all communicate successfully. He said they also thought it could become the African language instead of using the colonizer's language
In 2015, in fact, Tanzania was the first sub-Saharan African country to use an African language as the medium of instruction throughout the schooling years. As part of far-reaching plans to reform education, President Jakaya Kikwete's administration announced that Tanzania will have Kiswahili as the sole language of instruction, dumping English as part of the bilingual instruction since the country's independence from the British in 1961.
When we got back to camp around 5:30 p.m. after the all-day safari, we were SO GLAD that we had a plunge pool all to ourselves at our tent. It felt so good; knocked down the dust and heat.
We wandered up for happy hour at the bar, and our friends from Durango asked us to join them for supper and we had a delightful time.
We're going fishing tomorrow on the Rufiji River!
Enjoy the photos from the first day of safari!
This is our bed in our tent at the Selous River Safari Camp.
This is the plunge pool that is on the deck along with our tent! We thought it was kind of extravagant but it felt SO GOOD after being all-day safari in the heat!
Some kind of bee eater.
This is a hornbill.
This is a young giraffe running away from us.
This is a sleeping lion who could not care less that we were less than 20 feet from it.
This is starling. They're absolutely beautiful in the sunlight. They're iridescent.
This is a male impala. They very small, graceful and very pretty.
This is an ugly stork.
This is a big male crocodile going into the water.
This is a fish eagle.
Hippos out of the water.
Hyenas dining on a male impala while a vulture waits for his turn at the carcass.
This is a male kudu. They are smaller than an élan but prettier.
A female lion that awoke long enough to clean herself.
A female elephant and her baby.
Sleeping female lions. The female lions do the hunting, the males eat first and the females finish the meal. note her extended belly. They had just eaten. Maaruf described them as lazy animals.
This is a family in their home that we can see from our deck.
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