"Did you get bitten by a snake"

Taking a boat safari from Sandrivers will get you up close and personal with many of the birds that nest in the banks. The birds seem to be very tolerant of the boats, one day we had a Beautiful Malachite Kingfisher land on the boat a few feet from us! Above is a photo of a Giant Kingfishers just out side its nest and some Eland on the plains..

Today we were doing a bit of exploring on foot, near Lake Tagalala we came across a heard of Zebras, as usual they ran off. From where we were it looked like one of the Zebras was lying down and not moving. We decided to go over and have a look. As we came with 10m of the Zebra we saw an ear twitch. It seemed like it was very weak or maybe it had sustained an injury. We came to within a few feet of the young Zebra and decided to nudge it with our feet, but no reaction, then once more, but still nothing. Rem who I was with bent down and said to it, "did you get bitten by a snake" at that moment the Zebra woke up and bolted away giving us a major increase in heart rate! Then we had to laugh, poor thing was only fast asleep! He trotted off and joined his rather concerned mum.

One of our other walks out had the great luck of seeing 3 leopards in one morning, a mother with two tiny cubs, great news, hopefully we will be seeing more of them!

Blurring the lines

The Zebras here in the Selous lack the shadow stripes, giving them a vivid look. They are called Crawshay's Zebra.

If the light is not very good, then you can try some different photography techniques, such as slowing your shutter speed down and panning, sometimes you can get lucky.

The Superb Saddle-Billed Stork

Unmistakable and beautiful, this one is a male, the females have a yellow ring around the eye and the males have a small wattle. With birds like this around, the Selous is the perfect place to spark an interest in our feathered friends.

The masters of staring competitions

Its rare you get the chance to look down on a Giraffe, we had a staring competition with this fella for ages, but as always, the Giraffe won!

Lake Tagalala

Lake Tagalala is teaming with life, we stopped off to view the Hippos, with the sun setting behind the pod mushroom clouds of water vapor kept shooting into the air as the hippos exhaled though their noses. The magnificent African Fish Eagle perched high in the palm trees, keeping an eye for any unwary fish.

Opening camp

We found the brothers near lake Tagalala yesterday morning, they were patrolling and marking their territory. It is quite a sight flying into the Selous at the moment as the river is the highest we have seen it for years! All the animals look to be in good condition, plenty of green grass and leaves at the moment. We are looking forward to the season ahead, Karibu sana Sand Rivers.

Sand Rivers - my new favourite place on earth

Lauren Scott - Nomad's PR in New York  


The Selous.

Or as I now refer to it, My New Favourite Place On Earth. 

I had been especially excited to visit Sand Rivers and was thoroughly enjoying William Boyd’s Ice Cream War (set on the banks of the Rufiji) in the week preceding our trip, but nothing and no one could have prepared me for how totally, mind-blowingly beautiful and wild the Selous is, or how it would take only 48 hours to fall head over heels in love with it.

I knew I was going to love the area from the moment we touched down on the airstrip. I knew I was going to love Sand Rivers from the second I walked into the camp. But when I saw my room, suite one, that is when I threatened never to leave.  And this was all before the sundowner on Lizzy’s hill, the breakfast on the river and the day in which we saw leopard, buffalo, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and monkeys in under ten minutes. 

It was an amazing treat it was to spend time there – especially during the wet season. Sand Rivers best kept secret is quite how wonderful it is in the wet season. Teaming with wildlife and bursting with green-this really is the Garden of Eden. 

For all of you planning a visit a) I am hugely envious and can’t get back there soon enough and b) Ice Cream War is on the bookshelf there!