Azura Selous has just 12 spacious designer ‘tented villas’ along the banks of the Ruaha river, with private plunge pools, butler-hosts to look after your every need and fabulous dining in varied locations. It’s quite simply the most luxurious, comfortable safari accommodation in Southern Tanzania, and the perfect place to relax. But our highly-trained guides are what will make your safari at Azura truly special, personalizing a safari itinerary for you that includes extensive game viewing drives in open sided Land Rovers, both on and off road, walking adventures, boating, fishing and star gazing. This is authentic Africa as it is supposed to be, with Azura style luxury every step of the way.
Azura Selous has just 12 spacious designer ‘tented villas’ along the banks of the Ruaha river, with private plunge pools, butler-hosts to look after your every need and fabulous dining in varied locations. Our highly-trained guides are what will make your safari at Azura truly special, enjoy extensive game viewing drives in open sided Land Rovers, both on and off road, walking adventures, boating, fishing and star gazing.
The unique 'eco-chic' design of our tented villas offers guests something very different and fresh compared to other lodges in southern Tanzania. They feature handmade items from community based projects in line with our 'designed to give' principles.
Being part stone and part tented, linked with a large reception area designed to mimic a huge termite mound, our unique tented villas give you the best of both worlds, and have all the luxuries you can imagine for your bush stay. Importantly you feel like you are close to nature offering you the feel of a real safari adventure.
The villas are air-conditioned and offer over 90sqm of inside space. The tented bedrooms are large and offer very comfortable custom made beds, lots of people tell us we have the best beds in the Selous! Large opulent stone bathrooms give you all the comforts you could need and also come with wonderful inside and outside showers where you can shower under the elements in privacy.
There is plenty of space for rest, relaxation and privacy. Going to sleep and waking up with the animal and bird noises and regular hippo snorts is truly very magical and special.
Villa Twiga is the top-end villa at Azura Selous, and offers the most astounding accommodation for a couple. With a wonderfully private location at the Eastern end of the property, its perfect for honeymooners, with enhanced décor and facilities, including an outdoor sitting pavilion and a larger private plunge pool that overlooks the rapids of the river. Every villa at Azura Selous features a different theme, which includes the Monkey, Elephant and Zebra themes. Villa Twiga will be the only villa with a Giraffe theme and will reflect the bright yellows and different patterns in the decor. The villa offers additional services for guests staying here, including being collected from the villa in a Land Rover, and a minibar and a gym in a bag in the villa.
The unique 'eco-chic' design of our tented villas offers guests something very different and fresh compared to other lodges in southern Tanzania. They feature handmade items from community based projects in line with our 'designed to give' principles.
Being part stone and part tented, linked with a large reception area designed to mimic a huge termite mound, our unique tented villas give you the best of both worlds, and have all the luxuries you can imagine for your bush stay. Importantly you feel like you are close to nature offering you the feel of a real safari adventure.
The villas are air-conditioned and offer over 90sqm of inside space. The tented bedrooms are large and offer very comfortable custom made beds, lots of people tell us we have the best beds in the Selous! Large opulent stone bathrooms give you all the comforts you could need and also come with wonderful inside and outside showers where you can shower under the elements in privacy.
There is plenty of space for rest, relaxation and privacy. Going to sleep and waking up with the animal and bird noises and regular hippo snorts is truly very magical and special.
Villa Twiga is the top-end villa at Azura Selous, and offers the most astounding accommodation for a couple. With a wonderfully private location at the Eastern end of the property, its perfect for honeymooners, with enhanced décor and facilities, including an outdoor sitting pavilion and a larger private plunge pool that overlooks the rapids of the river. Every villa at Azura Selous features a different theme, which includes the Monkey, Elephant and Zebra themes. Villa Twiga is the only villa with a Giraffe theme and will reflect the bright yellows and different patterns in the decor. The villa offers additional services for guests staying here, including being collected from the villa in a Land Rover, and a minibar and a gym in a bag in the villa.
24-hour Security, Battery Charging Facilities, Eco Friendly, Internet Access (Complimentary), Kiddies Club, Laundry Service (Available), Malaria Free, Mobile Connectivity, Pool, Private Vehicle Available, Restaurant, Spa
Air Conditioning, Balcony / Deck, Dressing Gowns, Electrical Outlets, En-Suite, Fan, Hair Dryer, Laundry Service (Available), Lounge Area, Mini Bar, Mosquito Nets, Outside Shower, Private Pool / Jacuzzi, Pure Cotton Linen, Safe, Shower, Tea / Coffee, Verandah
Credit Card, Room Service
All our game drives are in custom made Land Rover vehicles that have open sides and raised seating, ideal for comfortable game viewing and photography. The cars either hold 6 people or 4 people so the whole experience of coming to stay with us is a very intimate one.
The Selous is wild, rugged and diverse, it is not a zoo and your game drives are varied and always take in new areas to discover. With your guide you will track what you are looking for, often following fresh footprints and often off roading looking for the normal tick list of game that people have come to find.
Due to our exclusive location the game drives here feel like you are on a private concession; if you stay 4 nights as most guests do you probably won’t see another vehicle from start to finish. This is why the camp was built here, our guests don’t have to share their game experiences and this is what makes your game drives so special and exciting
Walking safaris with our expert guides are an incredible activity that we encourage all guests to do.
Accompanied by highly trained and professional guides, walking safaris offer guests the rare chance to get up-close and personal with the 'little five', as well as learn about the relationship between flora and fauna and the medicinal values of the plants that thrive in the reserve. A highly educational and uniquely enlightening experience, walking safaris follow the tracks, sights, smells and sounds of animals big and small into the wilds of Africa.
This is a great activity for adults and kids. The fast flowing Great Ruaha is home to many species of fish, including the Electric Catfish and sought after Tiger Fish. The rapids right in front of camp offer up 'Squeakers' aplenty, so called because they produce a squeaking sound as a warning to both predators and competitors during spawning time.
When the Great Ruaha River in front of the lodge is high enough to facilitate boating safari's this is a wonderful way to see the African game and wildlife from a different perspective. When you are enjoying experiences like a pride of lions, herd of elephants, a leopard or pack of wild dog all on your own with no other tourists you feel very humbled and lucky – very few places in Africa offer this intimate and exclusive experience. Please note this activity is dependent on river levels and the annual rains.
Being situated along the riverbanks of the Great Ruaha River means that Azura Selous is an ideal location for viewing endemic, aquatic and migratory birds.
The river acts as a life force for abundant wildlife including a large listing of birds. Fish Eagle stay perched high above looking for prey, their familiar screech filling the air just before they dive towards their target. Water birds include Goliath Herons skimming the water’s surface in search of fish, whilst flocks of Egyptian Geese fly by and land on the banks and tickbirds groom snoozing hippos.
The Selous is a spectacular birding destination with over 440 bird species being recorded. Some birds to look out for include the African Skimmer, White-crowned Lapwing, Spotted-flanked Barbet, Palm-nut Vulture, Chestnut-backed Finch-lark,Open-billed Storks, Golden Pipit and the Rock Pratincole. Azura guides love sharing their knowledge of all the bird life that is located in the Selous Game Reserve
Aside from the adventures of being in the world’s largest game reserve and spending time on game drives and walking safaris, guests can relax and unwind with a number of wonderful spa treatments.
For complete relaxation these treatments take place on the deck of your tented villa overlooking the Great Ruaha river, having your treatments out in the elements whilst you listen to wildlife noises and the sounds of the river rapids is a truly enchanting experience.
Unlike most safari lodges we don’t group our guests together for meal times unless you specifically request to eat together. The concept here is that each meal time is a special occasion, it is a relaxed experience and a gourmet one, we offer a la carte dining and 3 course lunches and dinners.
Our aim is for you to never eat in the same place twice. At Azura, dining is all part of the experience, from breakfast in the bush to dining under the vast African skies by candle light. Our hosts take huge pride in their innovative dining set-ups, and little touches to make your stay special.
Our menus are based on what is fresh and available, it’s a simple understated affair. At dinner we offer a choice of dishes and we can cater for all dietary needs and requirements as long as we have notice due to our remote location.