The Selous Game Reserve is the largest game reserve in Africa.

This 45,000 square kilometers is uninhabited and little touched by humans, but is home to Africa's largest populations of elephant, buffalo, hippo, crocodile, some of the last remaining packs of wild dog, over 400 species of birds, and 2000 varieties of plants, shrubs and trees.
The reserve is of such ecological diversity and importance that it was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1982.

Sand Rivers is set on the banks of the Rufiji River, East Africa's largest waterway, which rises up to 16 feet during the wet season (March and April) and in so doing floods an enormous area, including lakes and swamps which then slowly dry out until the next rains. These are fed by what are, for most of the year, the sand rivers from which the lodge derived its name and are fantastic to walk on since they are motorways for game. Lake Tagalala, close to Sand Rivers is one of the largest in the area and has the highest density of Nile crocodiles ever recorded. This lake is fed by hot springs, which upstream form beautiful oases of wild date palms with gushing waterfalls and deep pools that are magical to swim in throughout the year.

Impressive Riverine forests and dense impenetrable thickets are important habitats within the Selous, with characteristic Borassus palms reaching up to 25 meters, growing in groves along the River. These areas are home to buffalo, elephant, monkeys, leopard and a huge diversity of bird life.

Woodland

The miombo woodland, second in biodiversity only to the rainforest, contains a plethora of wonderful hardwood tree families including brachystegia, julbernadia, isoberlina, pterocarpus, dalbergia and combretum. In fact most of the 2,149 species of trees and plants that are found in the reserve can be found in this woodland. Miombo is named after the bantu word for the brachystegia trees that are so typical of this environment. Almost all game makes the Miombo its home for some of the year and even hippo trudge up from the river on their nightly search for green grass.

Plains and Hills

The open grassland is dotted with palm and terminalia thickets and is a good general place to see all the plains species as well as their predators.

Rocky, acacia clad hills to the north and west of the lodge are a transition zone between the miombo woodland and the lakes. They are laced with paths trodden by all manner of game from hippo to mongooses. The acacia species zanzibarica (whistling thorn), nigrescens (knobthorn) and senegal dominate the area, along with mimusops trees which provide good shade during walks. These hills are particularly good for walks because of the abundance of pathways and the breathtaking views to be had over the lakes, grassland and the Rufiji stretching east towards the Indian Ocean. There are often lion, hyena and wild dogs to be found here lying in wait for herbivores as they head to or from the lakes.

Further north is an area of palm wood surrounded by grassland. This comprises mostly of doum palm (hypheanae compressa) with the occasional dominance of the striking borassus palm (borassus aethiopium). This area is especially popular with elephant, for whom the doum palm nuts are favourite food.