Selous Wilderness Camp
Small tented camp with a fly camp · South bank of the Rufiji on the park boundary, near Mtemere gate · Independent, community-embedded
Budget
Outside the gate
Locally owned
A small independent camp on the south bank of the Rufiji where over seventy per cent of the staff come from the surrounding villages, which is about as direct as the local employment link gets in this park. Six tents and a fly camp keep it genuinely quiet. Rates are not published, so ask for a written quote before you commit.
Pros and cons
Pros
- More than 70% of staff come from neighbouring villages
- Reachable by road, a five-hour drive from Dar es Salaam
- Just six tents, so it never feels busy
- One dedicated family tent among the six
- Runs its own fly camp for a night under canvas
Cons
- No published rates; ask for bed rate separate from fees
- We found no published child policy on the camp's own site
- Park, boat and walking fees are charged separately
- Opening season not published; ask the camp directly
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Bar
- Family rooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
- Community visits
Read from Selous Wilderness Camp'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 Selous Wilderness Camp
On request. No rates are published. Ask for a quote that separates the bed rate from park entry, boat and walking fees, because those are extra at every camp on this side of the boundary.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
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 Selous Wilderness Camp
Is Selous Wilderness Camp good for families?
We found no published child policy, so ask when you enquire. The camp's own site confirms one of its six tents is a dedicated family tent, which the park record also lists, so there is a specific unit built for a family even without a stated minimum age.
Can you self-drive to Selous Wilderness Camp?
Yes. The camp's own site describes a five-hour drive from Dar es Salaam by road as one option, alongside a short flight into Mtemere airstrip as the other. That makes it one of the more accessible camps on this side of the park by car.
What does the rate at Selous Wilderness Camp include?
No rate card is published, either by the camp or in the park record. Park entry, boat and walking fees are charged separately here, as at every camp on this side of the boundary, so ask for a quote that separates the bed rate from those extras.
What makes Selous Wilderness Camp different from other budget camps?
More than seventy per cent of its staff come from the neighbouring villages, by the camp's own account, which is a direct community link. It also runs its own fly camp, a night sleeping out under the stars with Maasai guards and a campfire, on top of the six main tents.