Sand River Lodge, Selous, Tanzania If holidays to you are about seeking out secret places, undiscovered by all but a handful of independent and inquisitive people who are willing to pay for a truly absorbing and exclusive bush adventure, then Sand Rivers Selous is an African gem that you can't afford to overlook. This lodge is one of our "Top 5 Camps in all Africa". It is beautifully situated on a small bluff overlooking the Rufiji River, has huge luxurious rooms, beautiful public areas and offers a great variety of activities. This is one camp where a stay of five or six nights would not be too long. The game is good here too and we were lucky enough to enjoy a 'once in a lifetime' experience as we watched wild dog hunting - fantastic! Walking Here you have the most rare opportunity to walk in the largest untamed wilderness on earth, using skill, stealth and all your senses to creep up on creatures large or small and discover the intricate workings of bush life, impossible from a car or boat. Birds You can sit in the evening sun on a lake-side with your binoculars, watching kingfishers hovering above the water, long legged waders sifting the mud for morsels, and fish eagles calling. The Rufiji River You can float silently down the mighty Rufiji River, past pods of shiny hippos and sunbathing crocodiles, the riverbank lush with palms and rich with the call of monkeys. Comforts You can savor the sunset on a ridge over the river, icy drink at your elbow, or breakfast in the bush, table set in the shade of a tree and laden with tropical fruits, cereals, eggs and bacon. Relaxing You can tuck yourself into an armchair on a veranda overlooking the river and doze, or busy yourself with book, binoculars, or sketchbook. You can lie in the cool waters of the swimming pool shaded by an ancient Baobab tree, or take a fishing rod onto the rocks and spend a leisurely hour tempting tiger fish, or luring catfish (which make delicious pre-dinner bites). Diverse Landscapes There are thick riverine forests heavy with palms and creepers; wide expansive grasslands; the waters of the Rufiji itself, teeming with life; hardwood 'miombo' woodland carpeted with grasses and wild flowers; soft hills and ridges hiding oases of hot springs and pools; marshy wetlands; a myriad of lakes and streams fed by the river, and the dry meandering sand rivers themselves after which the lodge was named - each habitat home to a huge diversity of wildlife. Flexibility & Individuality You can do and see bits of all of these things every day if 100% action is what you're after - on foot, by boat, in a Land Rover or a mix of all three. But the point is that Sand Rivers has a diversity of landscapes and game that knows no bounds, and is run to give you the utter flexibility to do what exactly what you want, when you want. You can do nothing or everything, on your own or with kindred spirits. Your only additional companion will be your guide, and the only constant will be the comfort of the lodge - the bar laden with bottles, juices and buckets of ice; your luxurious bed; a hot steaming shower; and an evening spent across the polished mahogany dining table recounting your day's stories and adventures.

The Lodge Sand Rivers Selous was built six years ago, the site carefully chosen for its isolation, diversity of game, ecosystems and landscapes. The lodge was built with flair and imagination, entirely from local materials, with spectacular views over the magnificent Rufiji River.

There are eight large and airy double or twin-bedded cottages, each with its own spacious bathroom. Beds are four-poster with soft mosquito netting which ties back during the day. Each cottage is open-fronted with an expansive veranda set on stilts, giving a stunning, private view over the river. Electric lights, overhead fans and hot water are solar powered.

Eating, Drinking and Relaxing The central building is large and airy with plenty of space to sit and relax on comfortable sofas and armchairs, or in the shade of the Tamarind tree on the veranda. The building is open fronted onto the Rufiji and has stunning views across the endless flow of water. The bar, complete with a mass of bottles, fresh juices, mixers and ice is tucked into the corner of the sitting room where you are free to help yourself at anytime.

The polished mahogany dining table at one end of the room - the harvest of an enormous tree washed down the river by a storm - is the focus for lunch and dinner. Generally breakfast is a moveable feast with guests either eating early in the lodge or having a bush breakfast later, under the shade of a tree. There is a bird and animal reference library, along with a selection of African books and novels.

The Swimming Pool Outside the central mess area is the swimming pool, set into the rocks on the river's edge and shaded by an ancient Baobab tree, thought to be more than 1500 years old. Here there is a veranda and soft chairs to relax in. Days at Sand Rivers.

Daily Activities Every day at Sand Rivers is fluid. You make your plans together with your guide, deciding what you'd like to do and when. Either way, whether at dawn or after a lie in, you will be woken with a tray of tea or coffee and home made biscuits on your veranda. Depending on your plans, you might breakfast early in the lodge, or stop to eat in the shade of a tree at some point during your morning travels. After lunch a snooze at the lodge and then decide how to spend the late afternoon. In order to explore the area and enjoy the Selous to its full, you will need at least 4 nights at Sand Rivers. If you are including fly-camping in your plans, or if you want to do more adventurous walking, then you will need between 5 to 7 nights.

Game Driving The lodge has a number of Land Rovers adapted for game viewing. Canvas covered seats are elevated and open on all sides, with a shaded cover to protect against the sun. To preserve the landscapes around the lodge we restrict vehicles to special tracks that meander through woods, grassland and around the lakes, and the dry sand rivers are perfect for off road driving and are a great place to spot herds of elephants and buffalo grazing.

Walking There are very few places where it is possible to experience the bush and its wildlife on foot - the Selous is one of these rare gems. Undoubtedly the most exciting and fulfilling way to explore Africa, it was the quality and richness of the walking safaris that gave Sand Rivers its reputation as one of the best lodges in East Africa.

The Guides On all your explorations, you will be led by one of the lodge's 5 guides. Each has worked at the lodge since the beginning and several worked as rangers in the Selous for years before, or as guides on specialist walking safaris before Sand Rivers existed. All of them are exceptional game spotters, know the area and its wildlife back to front and have stories and tales to tell.

Boating The river provides an utterly unique view of life in the Selous and Sand Rivers. Upstream the river narrows into a deep ravine called Steigler's Gorge, the steep sides thick with lush forest and huge boulders where leopards are often seen and monkeys leap through the treetops. Downstream of the lodge the river is wide and expansive with vast tracts of sandy banks, home to monitor lizards and bee-eaters. The lodge has several aluminum, flat-bottomed boats. Each has an outboard motor for traveling upstream and boats float gently back downstream with the current, engine switched off. Ecosystem The Selous Game Reserve is the largest game reserve in Africa. This 45,000 square kilometers is uninhabited and little touched by humans, but is home to Africa's largest populations of elephant, buffalo, hippo, crocodile, some of the last remaining packs of wild dog, over 400 species of birds, and 2000 varieties of plants, shrubs and trees. The reserve is of such ecological diversity and importance that it was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1982.

The Rufiji River Sand Rivers is set on the banks of the Rufiji River, East Africa's largest waterway, which rises up to 16 feet during the wet season (March and April) and in so doing floods an enormous area, including lakes and swamps which then slowly dry out until the next rains. These are fed by what are, for most of the year, the sand rivers from which the lodge derived its name and are fantastic to walk on since they are motorways for game. Lake Tagalala, close to Sand Rivers is one of the largest in the area and has the highest density of Nile crocodiles ever recorded. This lake is fed by hot springs, which upstream form beautiful oases of wild date palms with gushing waterfalls and deep pools that are magical to swim in throughout the year. The Ecosystems Impressive Riverine forests and dense impenetrable thickets are important habitats within the Selous, with characteristic Borassus palms reaching up to 25 meters, growing in groves along the River. These areas are home to buffalo, elephant, monkeys, leopard and a huge diversity of bird life.

Woodland The miombo woodland, second in biodiversity only to the rainforest, contains a plethora of wonderful hardwood tree families including brachystegia, julbernadia, isoberlina, pterocarpus, dalbergia and combretum. In fact most of the 2,149 species of trees and plants that are found in the reserve can be found in this woodland. Miombo is named after the bantu word for the brachystegia trees that are so typical of this environment. Almost all game makes the Miombo its home for some of the year and even hippo trudge up from the river on their nightly search for green grass. Plains and Hills The open grassland is dotted with palm and terminalia thickets and is a good general place to see all the plains species as well as their predators. Rocky, acacia clad hills to the north and west of the lodge are a transition zone between the miombo woodland and the lakes. They are laced with paths trodden by all manner of game from hippo to mongooses. The acacia species zanzibarica (whistling thorn), nigrescens (knobthorn) and senegal dominate the area, along with mimusops trees which provide good shade during walks. These hills are particularly good for walks because of the abundance of pathways and the breathtaking views to be had over the lakes, grassland and the Rufiji stretching east towards the Indian Ocean. There are often lion, hyena and wild dogs to be found here lying in wait for herbivores as they head to or from the lakes. Further north is an area of palm wood surrounded by grassland. This comprises mostly of doum palm (hypheanae compressa) with the occasional dominance of the striking borassus palm (borassus aethiopium). This area is especially popular with elephant, for whom the doum palm nuts are favorite food.

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