My sister Becky and I went on a trip of lifetime to the Selous Riverside Safari Camp in the Nyerere National Park in Tanzania. From the moment we arrived in Nyerere National Park our senses were awoken, surrounded by the enticing warm and dry air on our faces, lively vegetation and beautiful vivid glowing light. The drive to our camp by the Rufiji River turned out to be a safari drive already, spotting impala and monkeys.
Alone with a pride of lions
What we liked about Nyerere National Park was how quiet it was, hardly coming across any other safari jeeps on any of our game drives — on one occasion we were alone with a pride of lions for an hour before another jeep came. Becky absolutely loves lions and Audley did wonders by picking the wonderful Nyerere National Park for us, where chances would be more positive for spotting them. Just to see Becky’s face light up when she saw lions made my heart burst.
The staff at the Riverside Safari Camp were amazing, looking after us so well, and with a personal touch. They did everything to help us have a comfortable, enjoyable stay. I previously lived and worked all over Asia and I have to say the lunch spots were the best I have ever experienced, a lovely lunch set up for us in an isolated spot near a lake, surrounded by bush and the sky, with impala in the distance. Peaceful, beautiful and stunning.
Rama taught us some Swahili
We had our own guide, Rama for the duration and he was informative and patient, allowing us to take our time looking at the lions. We were lucky enough to find elephants engulfed by lush greenery on the first full day of safari. Rama was also entertaining and taught us some Swahili and we sang songs together including ‘Hakuna Matata’ from Disney’s The Lion King. We also had David who helped us around the camp, served us dinner and even a sneaky cup of tea and biscuits in the afternoon on our veranda.
The wonderful people at the camp made Becky and I very welcome and Becky made many friends. Seeing the wildlife and the beautiful scenery was obviously one of the highlights but what makes an amazing trip and gives you lifelong memories is the whole experience: the atmosphere which Nyerere National Park had — a peaceful, warm, hazy-but-vivid light that covers the park; the kind welcoming people you meet that we discovered in Riverside Safari Camp; and the experiences like lunch by the lake, dinner under the stars, waking to see the Maasai staff patrolling the camp at sunrise and a special dinner made for us on our veranda on the last night.
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