Selous Game Reserve

Many rivers here are dry sand most of the year.

When heavy rain comes, they fill with rushing water.

Most of the Selous is miombo woodland. UNESCO says that in heavy rains the soil washes away easily, and this has made a network of 'sand rivers': riverbeds that are usually dry sand but turn into raging torrents in the rainy season.

In the north, the rising water of the Rufiji River floods large areas of wooded grassland for part of each year, which keeps the landscape always changing.

The dominant vegetation is deciduous miombo woodland, a fire-climax vegetation; its soils erode in heavy rains, producing a network of normally dry sand rivers that become raging torrents during the rains, which UNESCO counts among the most distinctive features of the Selous landscape.

Large parts of the wooded grasslands of the northern Selous are seasonally flooded by the rising Rufiji River, creating a very dynamic ecosystem; other habitats include rocky acacia-clad hills, gallery and groundwater forests, swamps and lowland rainforest (UNESCO).

Elephants, hippos, buffaloes and wild dogs live in the Selous.

Crocodiles swim in the rivers, and hundreds of kinds of birds fly here.

UNESCO says the Selous has globally important populations of African elephants, black rhinos and African wild dogs, and one of the world's largest known populations of hippos and buffaloes. Sable antelope, greater kudu, eland and Nyassa wildebeest live there too.

More than 2,100 kinds of plants have been recorded, and about 350 kinds of birds, including the rufous-winged sunbird.

UNESCO: a higher density and diversity of species than any other miombo woodland area; more than 2,100 plants recorded, with more thought to exist in the remote southern forests; globally significant populations of African elephant, black rhinoceros and African wild dog; one of the world's largest known populations of hippopotamus and buffalo; sable antelope, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, greater kudu, eland and Nyassa wildebeest; many Nile crocodiles; 350 bird species including the Udzungwa forest partridge and the rufous-winged sunbird.

Because of this high density and diversity of species, UNESCO calls the reserve a natural habitat of outstanding importance for conserving biological diversity in place.

The Selous is joined to other wild places around it.

Animals can move between them.

UNESCO says the reserve sits inside a larger area of about 90,000 square kilometers called the Selous Ecosystem, made up of national parks, forest reserves and areas where local communities manage wildlife.

It is also linked to the Niassa reserve in Mozambique, about 42,000 square kilometers, which helps keep the whole wild landscape healthy.

The reserve is embedded within the larger, roughly 90,000 km2 Selous Ecosystem (national parks, forest reserves and community-managed wildlife areas) and is functionally linked with the 42,000 km2 Niassa reserve in Mozambique, both of which UNESCO says enhance its integrity.

UNESCO calls the reserve a valuable laboratory for ongoing ecological and biological processes, including significant predator-prey relationships.

In the bush, stay in the car or with a guide.

Cover your arms and legs to stop mosquito bites.

PlayOwl's advice: watch elephants, hippos and other wild animals only with a trained guide, and stay in the vehicle unless the guide says it is safe.

Mosquitoes can spread germs that make people sick. The CDC says to use insect repellent and wear loose, long-sleeved shirts and long pants, because mosquitoes bite day and night.

PlayOwl's advice: view large wildlife only with trained guides and at a distance.

CDC mosquito guidance: EPA-registered insect repellents and loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants; mosquitoes bite day and night and spread germs that cause illness.