Selous Game Reserve

The Selous is the largest reserve of Africa with 54,600 km². The reserve was once famous for its large herds of elephants. Unfortunately, these days elephants are rarer and sighting are not very common.

In 1976, the population of elephants was estimated at around 109,000 individuals. In 2013, the population had dropped to only 13,000 individuals. There was a sharp decline from 2009 to 2013. In fact, poaching has greatly increased since the mid-2000. I don't think that it has slowed down in 2015.

Despite that, the reserve is very interesting and I saw several species of animals. A second post will follow and will be entirely about lions.

A game drive that starts well! Two crocodiles are fighting. Unfortunately, the photos are not very sharp... the sun was not even out.

Despite the fact that elephants are now difficult to observe, I still had the chance to see some of them (four individuals).

What a nice surprise!

This hyena was resting in the middle of the trail. The hyena and I were surprised to come face to face in the middle of the day.