Beho Beho
Stone and thatch bandas · Beho Beho hills above the Rufiji floodplain · The Bailey family
Top-end
Inside the park
Owner/family-run
The park's grandest old address, and the oldest. Ker and Downey put a hunting camp on Kipalala Hill in 1972, making it the first permanent camp in what was then the Selous. The Bailey family bought it in 1977 after the East African Community broke up, rebuilt it and reopened it to safari guests in 2004. The Swahili name locals use for it, Waanzilishi, means the pioneer. Open stone and palm-thatch bandas sit on the hillside above the Msine, and the elevated site keeps it noticeably cooler than the lakeside camps. Frederick Courteney Selous, who gave the old reserve its name, is buried three miles away.
Pros and cons
Pros
- First permanent camp in the Selous, open since 1972
- Elevated hillside site keeps rooms noticeably cooler than lakeside camps
- Every banda has had its own plunge pool since 2019
- Guided walks run two to five hours with an armed guide
- Bailey's Banda adds a private villa with its own chef and vehicle
Cons
- Reachable only by light aircraft, a 45-minute flight from Dar
- Closed from mid-March to the start of June
- Among the priciest camps in the park, from $1,065 a night
- Children only from age 12, and the camp calls itself decidedly adult
Straight from the lodge
About the guides
Beho Beho keeps several resident guides under a head guide and a camp manager, and deliberately does not assign you one for your whole stay: you go out with different guides across the days. Walking is a real part of the offer here rather than a token hour, at two to five hours with an armed guide.
- Guided walks run two to five hours, always with an armed guide.
- Game drives go out in open-sided 4WD vehicles, early morning and late afternoon.
- Lake Tagalala is a 45-minute drive and then about an hour and a half on the water.
Told to us by Beho Beho's own fact sheet, August 2026.
Straight from the lodge
Seven bandas, and a villa that is really a separate camp
The seven bandas are stone-built and palm-thatched, each with a king bed, a day bed, a writing desk, a dressing room and an en suite bathroom, and each has had its own plunge pool since 2019. Bailey's Banda, added in 2012, is a two-bedroom villa for up to five people with its own kitchen, chef, vehicle and guides, so a family taking it is not sharing anything with the main camp.
- Seven bandas, plus Bailey's Banda, and up to 18 guests in total.
- Individual plunge pools on every banda, added in 2019.
- Bailey's Banda has two bedrooms, its own kitchen and chef, its own vehicle and its own guides.
- Rates are fully inclusive.
Told to us by Beho Beho's own fact sheet, August 2026.
What's here
- Swimming pool
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
Read from Beho Beho's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Nyerere National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$70 plus 18% VAT, charged per 24 hours.
- $82.6per person, per day
- Vehicle$40 plus VAT for a foreign-registered vehicle up to 2,000 kg; above that, where most safari 4x4s sit, it is $150 plus VAT.
- $47.2per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $637.2 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
The full fee schedule for Nyerere National ParkRates at Beho Beho
From $1,065 pppn. Up to about $1,500 in peak season, all inclusive. Bailey's Banda is a separate private villa, priced on request.
All inclusive. The rate covers meals, drinks, activities and the transfers named below. Park fees are charged separately.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Indicative 2026 rates gathered in July 2026 from operators' own rate cards, and from the best third-party sources where an operator publishes nothing at all. No published rate means 'on request'. Always confirm with the property. Two things shift the real comparison in this park. First, park fees are extra almost everywhere: a camp inside the boundary carries the $82.60 conservation fee plus a $59.00 to $70.80 concession fee per adult per night, both including VAT, and most in-park camps bundle these into an all-inclusive rate while the camps outside the gate charge entry, boat and walking fees separately on the days you go in. Second, ignore any camp still advertising night game drives: they are not permitted inside the national park since the 2019 regazettement. Names you may still find in older guides but that we do not list: Azura Selous, which appears permanently closed, plus Selous Kulinda, Ol Moran, Jimbiza Lodge, Selous Great Water, Selous Mbuyu, Selous Mapumziko, The Retreat Selous and Amara Selous, none of which we could verify as currently trading.
Questions about Beho Beho
Is Beho Beho good for families?
Only with older children. Beho Beho's own fact sheet welcomes children aged 12 and over and warns that the atmosphere in camp is decidedly adult, particularly at mealtimes. Its private villa, Bailey's Banda, suits a family with teenagers, with its own vehicle, chef and guides.
Can you self-drive to Beho Beho?
No. Beho Beho sits on Kipalala Hill with its own private airstrip, and the camp's site describes access as a roughly 45-minute flight from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar. There is no mention of a road or self-drive route, so flying in is the only way to reach it.
What does the rate at Beho Beho include?
Beho Beho is priced as fully inclusive, from $1,065 a night rising to about $1,500 in peak season, according to the camp's own rate card. Bailey's Banda, the private villa, is a separate supplement on top of the standard rate rather than a flat price, so ask for a quote.
Is Beho Beho good for a honeymoon?
Yes. The main bandas each have their own plunge pool and private verandah with bush views, which suits a honeymoon well. For full privacy, Bailey's Banda is a separate two-bedroom villa with its own pool, chef and vehicle, though the camp pitches it as much at families with older children as at couples.
When is Beho Beho open?
Beho Beho runs a fixed season, open from 1 June to 14 March and closed through the rest of March, April and May, according to its own site. That gap covers the long rains, so plan trips outside those three months.