Selous or Nyerere? The Name Change Explained for Your Safari

Selous and Nyerere are the same place. In 2019 the Tanzanian government turned the northern, photographic part of the old Selous Game Reserve into a new national park and named it Nyerere, after the country’s first president, Julius Nyerere. So “Selous safari” and “Nyerere safari” now point to the same destination — and most travellers, and most guidebooks, still use both names interchangeably.

I am Augustin, a guide based here on the Beho Beho River inside the park. The name change causes a lot of confusion when people are booking, so let me explain exactly what happened and why it still matters for your trip.

What actually changed in 2019

The original Selous Game Reserve was enormous, and it was split in use: the southern blocks were used for hunting, while the beautiful northern section above the Rufiji River was reserved for photographic safaris only. In 2019 that northern photographic section was gazetted as Nyerere National Park. The southern hunting portion remains the Selous Game Reserve.

So the part that almost every tourist visits — the part with the river, the lakes, the wildlife viewing, the camps — is now officially Nyerere National Park. The change was partly about tourism branding, because national parks attract more photographic-safari traffic than game reserves, and partly to honour Julius Nyerere.

Why “Selous” is still everywhere

Names take a long time to change in people’s minds, and “Selous” has decades of recognition behind it. The reserve was named after Frederick Courteney Selous, the explorer and conservationist, and it had been one of Africa’s great wilderness names since 1896. Travellers search for “Selous,” operators still market “Selous,” and older guidebooks still use it. You will see both names for years to come, and that is fine — just know they refer to the same wilderness.

What it means for your safari

Practically, very little has changed for the visitor. The wildlife is the same, the river is the same, and the activities are the same: game drives, walking safaris, boat safaris on the Rufiji, and fly camping. If anything, national-park status has brought a little more structure to how the area is managed.

The one thing worth knowing is that the park hosts four of the Big Five — lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo — but not rhino, which is effectively gone from this ecosystem. What Nyerere is genuinely famous for instead is its African wild dogs: it holds one of the largest populations of this endangered predator anywhere on the continent.

Where our camp sits in all this

Our Porini camp is deep inside the park, on the Beho Beho River. That location gives us access to the classic northern-Selous landscape — the Rufiji system, the lakes, the woodland — with very few other vehicles around. Whether you call it Selous or Nyerere, this is the wild, water-rich heart of southern Tanzania, and it is one of the best places in the country to combine driving, walking, boating and a night out under the stars.

Frequently asked questions

Are Selous and Nyerere the same place? The northern, photographic part of the former Selous Game Reserve is now Nyerere National Park. That is the area tourists visit, so for safari purposes, yes — they are the same.

Why was it renamed? To reflect national-park status for the photographic zone, and to honour Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s founding president.

Is there still a Selous Game Reserve? Yes — the southern hunting blocks remain the Selous Game Reserve.

Can you fly camp in Nyerere? Yes. It is one of the classic places in Tanzania for a walking-and-fly-camping safari.