Nyerere (Selous)

The land that is now Nyerere National Park was long part of the Selous Game Reserve, established under German colonial rule in the early 20th century and named after Frederick Courteney Selous, a hunter-naturalist killed nearby during the First World War. Expanded over the following decades, Selous grew into the largest protected area on the continent, a vast reserve managed largely for regulated hunting in its southern sectors and photographic safari in the north.

In 1982 the Selous Game Reserve was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its huge, undisturbed wilderness and important populations of elephants, black rhinos, hippos and wild dogs. For much of the 20th century, however, the reserve remained little known to ordinary travellers, its remoteness and size keeping visitor numbers low even as it sustained some of East Africa's most significant wildlife.

In 2019 the northern, tourism-focused portion of Selous, north of the Rufiji River, was gazetted as Nyerere National Park, elevating it to full national-park status and placing it under Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA). The change opened the game-rich heart of the old reserve to photographic tourism on a new footing, while the southern blocks remained as the reduced Selous Game Reserve. Today Nyerere combines a proud conservation legacy with world-class river and walking safaris.