Sand Rivers Selous

Superb views and service

Five hearts from 37 votes

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Review

The grand dame of the Selous Safari circuit, along with Beho Beho, Sand Rivers Selous is the longest running safari camp and is also, still, one of the best. One of the major selling points is the location....set right on the banks of the Rufiji River, it is possible to sip a G&T looking both east and west along this picturesque river. For those looking for scenic beauty then this is it!

Location

Set out to the west of the park (in the northern, safari region of the Selous), Sand Rivers enjoys a privileged position, away from the relatively busy central region of Manze and Siwandu.

Layout

The camp itself now offers a range of different variations to clients. The main camps is still going strong with its fantastic chalets looking directly onto the water. While they are not vast in size, there is no doubt that they are large enough and the views certainly make up for any shortcomings otherwise.

Rooms

The suite rooms, located up on the hill, are for those wanting to get away from the main camp and feature wonderfully open rooms with lounge areas and private plunge pools. The view form up here is simply outstanding and while a bit of a walk to the main areas, is definitely worth the exercise.

Finally, Sand Rivers now offers the Rhino House and Kiba point....one being a private house and the other a private camp with 4 suites. Both of these are ideal for those looking to have a camp to themselves and feature private guides and activities that are not tied to the main camp.

Activities

From a game point of view, this is one of our favourite regions of the park. Being on the river obviously allows for plenty of water activities, but there are also some interesting "bai" areas nearby where game tends to congregate in the dry season. All in all a great camp!

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Feedback

In particular our highlight was the Safari as we saw good game and Sand Rivers was absolutely amazing! We cannot recommend Sand Rivers enough. Staff were fantastic and the food was lovely and the views over the river are beautiful. Our honeymoon suite with plunge pool was amazing too. We saw almost every animal they have in the Selous except for leopard and rhino. We got close to a pair of lions every day (including one on our walking safari!), and the most spectacular (and rare) thing we saw had to be the pack of wild dogs. Not only did we see them and park up right next to them, we saw a lion prowling down the hill and catch one (bit sad I know, but an incredible sight). Although the lion didn't want to eat it, we then heard all the hyenas called out to each other and they came down for it - it was an eventful afternoon!

- Laura and Andy, November, 2014
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The Safari started from the time we were collected from the air-strip (after a very bumpy ride) by Edward who was to be our guide for the duration of our stay. He was amazing, very knowledgeable, a great sense of humour and didn't mind how many trivial questions we asked, I'm sure there were many.
We were met at the lodge by Geoff and Isla who showed us around before taking us to our lodge. It was everything the website said plus more. All of the staff were so friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them.

The main lodge overlooked the river where you could see an abundance of hippo's, crocs and numerous birds. This is where we had our meals and all the food was excellent.

Went out on the river twice, once in the morning and we had breakfast out on the river bank and the second time was on the last evening , sat in the boat, in the middle of the river, glass of wine in our hand watching the sunset. Beautiful!!

Hot drink brought to your lodge 6a.m.- breakfast 6.30a.m.- safari 7.30a.m.- back for excellent lunch 1p.m.- 'afternoon tea' with cake 4p.m - safari 4.30p.m.- evening meal 8.p.m.

Ideal first time safari.

- Rob and Sue, November, 2014
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We had our 4 nights at sand rivers Selous and we were blown away. The rooms were great, but also we saw so much wildlife, which i thought might not be the case given things i have read about Selous. Anyway, we saw all of the big 5 except a rhino, although apparently they aren't common in Selous, and loved every activity we did. Can we put a big plug in for the fly camping? Both my husband and i cant stop talking about it, we slept under the stars and heard a lion make noises throughout the night, it was one of the highlights of our trip.

- Annalies and Ryan, Nov, 2013
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Back to Nomad. The lodge was, again, stunning, and we really loved our all open suite with the pool. Service was Nomad-great as well, food was perhaps a bit substandard, but ok. Selous with it's river was a great diversification to Mahale and Katavi, and we also saw some very nice scenes with Hippos, Lions, Crocs and so on. But there where not too many animals around, so gamedrives could have been more spectacular. I think the park was "unnaturally empty" at our time, which could happen and is part of the game/nature.

The flycamping was a bit of a disappointment. We had a 2.5h hike without seeing something on the way, but that's again nature and therefore what we were there for. The place at the lake with all the hippos and birds as well as the dinner under the stars was beautiful. But there were two other couples with us flycamping at the same time/same place. They were all nice, of course, but the overnight-stay was too close to a common camping experience, with a lack of privacy and our lovely suite a few km away in mind...

- Martin and Karine, Oct, 2012
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Facilities