From a boat, a view of the African sun, red and setting over the Rufiji River welcomed us to the Selous Game Reserve. Calls of the African Fish Eagle from across the river, high-pitched laughter, reached us at our vantage point and campsite atop a bluff on the river bank. Flights of White-fronted Bee Eaters exploded from designated perches, swept a semi-circle in the sky and returned to their mud holes in the bank like emerald confetti thrown from a highrise played in reverse. Tuxedoed Pied Kingfishers plied the water's edge. Black, blue, brown and orange Grey-headed Kingfishers perched atop mid-river snags while hippos chuffed and snorted, bellowed and belched reverberations that echoed across the river's surface for miles. Protecting their harems, male hippos broke away and chased our boats with submerged gallops over the river bottom, pushing a formidable bow wave. Surfacing, they exhaled like whales and shook their tyrannosaur heads, warning us to stay away.
That night, three baboons surrounded a threatening animal and tried to see if off by barking and growling. Our tent lay within their triangle. I stared through the mesh of our tent out into the moonlit forest, straining my ears to identify the 4th voice in their chorus of calls. They may have been doing us a favor.
After breakfast, we set out into the Selous in our two vehicles. Impala, warthog and giraffe were the first animals we stumbled upon. The park is the size of Switzerland and we spent 10 hours covering 75km of unmarked, offtrack paths. The 'map' was useless. We relied upon a GPS to see ourselves back to the lodge by nightfall.
Stacy's first time driving the Land Cruiser had her tasked with navigating a dry streambed and deep tire ruts to sidle up next to a fan palm harboring 6 juvenile male lions in its shade at mid-day. They showed no interest in us, and we were able to photograph them through open windows at a distance of 5 meters.
We spied an African Skimmer as it circumnavigated one of the many lakes were drove around. A Giant Kingfisher posed for a photograph as Nile Crocodile basked on the banks. It was incredibly hot.
We fit the cruisers through a narrow opening in the foliage to reveal an iconic African scene; Yellow-billed Storks stalked the shoreline of a shallow lake with Open-billed Storks in their shadows as Spoonbills swept the coast for a meal. A family of Warthogs with 6 piglets cross the path in front of us as hippos settled into the swamp, hiding and supporting their bulk as Cattle Egrets perched atop their backs. In the middle distance, a family of perhaps a dozen African Elephant moved from right to left, led by an old matriarch towards the setting sun. In their number was a newborn, whose skin seemed ill-fitting, like a pair a grey trousers a few sizes too large.
We approached cautiously but got to within 40ft of two small females that had stopped to feed on some palms. Their trunks moved as nimbly as fingers as the stripped the fronds of greenery.
We passed by the lions again on our way back to the lodge. Our vehicles flushed a herd of Lichtenstein's Hartbeast as we approached, visibly disappointing the lions as they watched their departures attentively. We watched them for some moments as Fork-tailed Drongos and Imperial Woodpeckers flitted in the trees above our heads.
We spent the day lost in the Selous wilderness and returned to camp just before nightfall. That night passed peacefully until 2am when the distant roar of a lion woke us.
We slept in and prepared for a morning of tigerfishing the river. A hippo asked us to leave our first fishing hole by exiting the water and crossing a small sandbank to settle into the exact stretch of river we hoped to ply. We caught no fish that morning, but enjoyed our time on the water.
Visible flecks of gold peppered the lapping shores of the river, hinting at the resources that first brought Arabs and then Europeans to this area hundreds of years ago. The largest gold, timber and slave trading hub in East Africa was the village of Kilwa, 1000 years old, and our destination when we left the Selous on a Tuesday morning.
