Beho Beho, known locally as ‘wansalishi’ which in Swahili means ‘the pioneer’ was the first permanent camp to be located in the northern sector of the Selous Game Reserve (now Nyerere National Park). Originally established as a hunting camp in 1972 by the well-known safari company Ker and Downey it was purchased by the Bailey family following the break up of the East African community in 1977 and converted into a permanent camp. Mostly used as a private camp for the family it was not until 2004 that the whole camp was rebuilt and promoted to safari enthusiasts.

Accommodation in the Main Camp Beho Beho has seven individual very spacious ‘bandas’ (stone built and palm thatched cottages) furnished with king-sized beds, Zanzibari day beds, writing desks and comfortable ‘suite’ furniture. The front of the banda is totally open and extends on to a spacious verandah – the banda can be secured for the night with ‘tented curtains’ or left open as desired. Bandas can be either double or twin and some can also accommodate additional beds. Each banda has a separate dressing room leading into an en suite bathroom with twin basins, high flush WC and an ‘open air’ shower. All bandas are supplied with Charlotte Rhys toiletries and hair driers. In 2019 individual plunge pools were added to each banda.

The main camp house Furnished in the style of a spacious private house, with comfortable seating, bar and dining areas and even a billiards room with a full-sized billiards table. The most noticeable thing is that there are few walls ensuring fantastic views over the reserve.

The Camp Beho Beho was the first camp to be sited in The Selous Game Reserve (now Nyerere National Park), not on the banks, or the flood plains of the mighty Rufiji River, but in the cooler highlands so as to enjoy the ‘cooling breezes’ from which its name derives. Always designated as a ‘private camp’ it has fiercely protected its individuality and privileged location as one of the most ‘magical’ places it is possible to visit in safari Africa.

Beho Beho is not really a camp in the true sense of the word, as it has individual bandas or stone built, palm-leaf thatched cottages, rather than the tented accommodation one might more readily associate with a camp. But also it is not really a safari lodge as it has only eight bandas, four on one side of the main house and four on the other, one tends to think of a safari lodge in terms of something quite a good bit larger. So we like to think of Beho Beho as being more of a home, a very private home situated in the middle of the African bush

Owned by the Bailey family for over forty years, they are now prepared to share their ‘home in the bush’ with a fortunate few who are able to share their enjoyment of Beho Beho, one of their favourite places in the world.

Your Banda Banda is an East African term for a permanent ‘solid structure’ erected to give protection from the elements and the animals, as opposed to the impermanence of a tent. Bandas were erected in or near the National Parks and could be rented from the park authorities on a kind of self-catering basis, where guests provided everything, even their own sleeping bags.

The bandas at Beho Beho couldn’t be more different! Yes they are solid structures built out of local stone and palm leaf thatch and do indeed provide shelter from the elements – but they are also a comfortable haven from which to enjoy the delights of the true African bush of Nyerere National Park.

Totally rebuilt between 2004 and 2006 the bandas are spacious and airy and have been designed to capture even the slightest breeze – at seven degrees south of the equator this is an important consideration – of course there are strategically placed wide-blade ceiling fans to assist nature if required. This feeling of spaciousness is accentuated by the fact that the main suite area has no front wall or windows, but is totally open on to the front verandah of each banda. For those a little nervous of sleeping with just a mosquito net between them and the ‘great outdoors’ there is an ingenious arrangement of a curtain made out of tenting material, complete with gauze windows, which can be drawn across at night and securely fastened. The verandah itself reveals what must be one of the most magnificent views in Africa – a wild, unspoilt, wilderness stretching out to the far horizon liberally sprinkled with a wide variety of ‘big game’!

The bandas have been designed as a comfortable home away from home for intrepid travellers and to be planned as a sophisticated haven where guests can relax in privacy in order to enjoy the ‘holiday’ part of their safari. So you will find huge comfy chairs big enough to curl up in, a truly ‘king-sized’, mosquito netted double bed, a Zanzibari day bed to while away the odd hour in the afternoon when it is too hot to go into the bush, a proper writing bureau (with post cards supplied), ‘Persian’ carpets and even a tripod mounted telescope for private game spotting.

A separate dressing room with ample space to unpack and store clothes and belongings, including a personal combination security safe, leads into a spacious fully equipped bathroom with twin wash hand basins, a high flush W.C. and a spacious open-air shower where it is possible to shower and view big game at the same time. The bathrooms are supplied with Charlotte Rhys toiletries, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, and soaps as well as a hair drier and his and hers bathrobes and slippers.

For the 2019-20 season plunge pools and individual sun bathing decks were constructed alongside each banda allowing guests to sunbathe privately and enjoy a cooling dip whilst enjoying uninterrupted game viewing.