With a final glance across the verdant Ngorongoro Crater we jumped into the truck and headed west towards the Serengeti. It didn’t take long for the landscape and the weather to change. As we descended from the highlands the heat rose and the dust gathered creating a shimmering haze over the endless plains. With quick stops at Olduvai Archaeological Museum and the incredible Shifting Sands we continued through herds of wildebeest, Thomson gazelle and zebra all in single file lines headed for well known waterholes.

So we bid farewell to the wilds of the Selous and flew from south to north across Tanzania towards the famous Ngorongoro Crater. It is a beautiful flight as you look down and see the turquoise blue ocean with palm fringed beaches and the sudden change to dry open bushland speckled with huge granite outcrops. As we neared Arusha, we also got our first view of Mount Kilimanjaro looming up over the clouds with its white capped summit. It was then across the Great Rift Valley before we landed at the Lake Manyara airstrip cantilevered over the edge of the escarpment. We met up with Ali, our driver, and slowly made our way up the windy track to the Crater rim.

Flying into the Selous is incredible. From palm filled forests to baobab strewn open plains and crusty soda lakes to the mighty Rufiji River, a myriad of landscapes cover what has been described as the last true wilderness of Africa. We were right into the action immediately as from the airstrip to the lodge we bumped into zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, impala and warthog. My good friends, Mike and Carol, gave us a fabulous welcoming before we settled into our rooms overlooking the River.