The house on the hill at Beho Beho still belongs to the Bailey family, and they let it to one party at a time. It stands higher up the slope than the main camp and out of sight of it, in northern Nyerere National Park, looking down to the hippo pools in the valley. Its own guide and open 4WD vehicle answer to no one else, so drives start when the guests decide.
Resident lions and wild dog turn up often enough to be a real chance.
Walks of two to five hours leave on foot straight from the door, and armed guides lead them along wooded ridges used by elephants, buffalo and giraffe. Resident lions and wild dog turn up often enough to be a real chance. About three miles from camp lies the grave of Frederick Courteney Selous, killed in action in 1917. The old Selous Game Reserve was named after him.
Beho beho means “cooling breezes”, and the hill earns the name. Up on the hill, the breeze holds right through the afternoon. Down on the riverbanks elsewhere in the park, the camps run warmer. The Bailey family bought Beho Beho in 1977, five years after it began as a hunting camp. It stayed their private home until it opened to safari guests in 2004.
Up on the hill, the breeze holds right through the afternoon.
The house is spread across two floors, with two en-suite bedrooms, one double and one twin. Its living and dining rooms are open-sided to the afternoon breeze, giving onto a sun deck and a private plunge pool that look out over the valley and the Rufiji floodplain. The kitchen and its resident chef belong to the house alone, as do the hosts, and meals arrive when and where the party wants them.
At the main camp, a team of resident guides rotates between parties, and none of them can be booked privately. The house is the exception. Its guide and open 4WD vehicle serve one party alone, so a morning drive can stay with a good sighting through to a late lunch, and the afternoon drive can set out whenever the heat drops. Some drives pass First World War trenches, where artefacts still lie scattered on the ground. Elsewhere they cross riverine country and miombo woodland, with stretches of open and lightly wooded savannah.
Lake Tagalala lies under an hour’s drive from camp, and a morning there is spent on the water. For an hour and a half the boat moves among hippos and crocodiles, with water birds all around. Then breakfast is laid out on the shore. Back on the hill, the hippo pools in the valley stay in view from the sun deck. The birdlife across the park is rich in every month the camp is open.
Some drives pass First World War trenches, where artefacts still lie scattered on the ground.
The house suits honeymooners as well as friends travelling together, and it comes into its own for families spanning generations. Children are welcome from twelve, the minimum age across Beho Beho. The main camp’s seven bandas lie further down the slope, out of sight, and mealtimes there are adult affairs, hosted like a dinner party. Up at the house, a family sets its own tone and its own bedtimes. Meals are taken in open-sided rooms, where the afternoon breeze moves straight through and the valley stays in view from the table.
The house is of a piece with the rest of the estate, built of locally sourced stone under palm thatch, and the whole camp was rebuilt in 2004. Reaching it is straightforward. Flights from Dar es Salaam reach the Beho Beho airstrip in about 45 minutes, a few minutes’ drive from the house, and a private Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12 can also be chartered to the strip. Timing matters more: the season runs from the first of June to mid-March, when the long rains arrive and the camp closes until the end of May.
accommodation
Bailey's Banda has two en-suite bedrooms across two floors, one double and one twin. The living and dining rooms are open-sided, and the house has its own kitchen, sun deck and private plunge pool. Its walls are local stone under palm thatch. It is let to a single party, and the main camp's seven bandas lie further down the slope.
activities
Morning and afternoon game drives in the house's own open 4WD vehicle with its own guide; walks of two to five hours from the door, led by armed guides as park rules require; a boat trip on Lake Tagalala with breakfast on the shore; and visits to First World War trenches and the grave of Frederick Courteney Selous.
conservation
Beho Beho was rebuilt in 2004 in stone under palm thatch, with few walls, so the afternoon breeze moves straight through. The Bailey family have run it as home and camp since 1977.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
By light aircraft from Dar es Salaam, about three quarters of an hour in the air, to the Beho Beho airstrip, a few minutes' drive from the house. Coastal Aviation flies into the park several times a day and also connects from Zanzibar and Ruaha, though a scheduled flight sometimes sets down at another strip in the park first, which can mean a longer drive in.
Because the house is taken by one party, a private charter often makes the most sense: typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, landing at Beho Beho itself at the hour you choose. Whichever way you fly, luggage is fifteen kilograms a person including hand luggage, packed in a soft bag.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates every part of Tanzania below 1,800 metres as high risk for malaria and suggests antimalarial tablets there, and the American CDC sets the same altitude line. Beho Beho stands on a low hill at under 200 metres, so the whole stay falls well inside that risk area, in every month the house is open.
We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so we do not make recommendations about tablets; that choice belongs to you and your doctor or a travel clinic. Long sleeves from late afternoon and repellent on bare skin help whatever you decide.
It is a whole house for one party rather than a room among others. It sits higher up the hillside and out of sight of the main camp, with two en-suite bedrooms over two floors, open-sided living and dining rooms, its own kitchen and resident chef, and a plunge pool and sun deck looking down over the valley to the hippo pools.
The biggest difference is the vehicle. The house has its own open 4WD and guide, so drives leave when you want and stay out as long as the sighting deserves, with no one else to agree with. It is priced as the Beho Beho rate plus a nightly supplement for sole use.
Walking, above all. Walks of two to five hours set off straight from camp with an armed guide, so you never walk alone, and on foot the tracks, the birds and the smaller things that a vehicle drives past become the point of the morning.
The other outing is to Lake Tagalala, under an hour's drive away with game viewing on the road: a shaded boat trip of about an hour and a half among hippo, crocodile and water birds, finishing with breakfast on the shore. Frederick Selous, the hunter and conservationist the old reserve was named after, was killed at Beho Beho in 1917 and is buried close by.
Yes, from the age of twelve, the minimum for the whole of Beho Beho. For a family with teenagers the house is the better choice: one double room and one twin, its own vehicle so the day runs at the family's pace, and meals on your own rather than in the main camp, which is run with adults in mind.
The same privacy suits two couples travelling together, or a honeymoon. Tell us the ages and interests when you enquire and we will shape the drives and the days around them.
From mid-June to October, when the dry season thins the bush and draws animals to the lakes and river channels to drink, which gives the clearest game viewing of the year. Beho Beho is open from the start of June to mid-March and closes through the long rains from mid-March to the end of May.
The green months from November to February have their own case. The park is quieter, the birding is at its best, and the light after a storm is a gift to photographers; the game spreads out once fresh water is everywhere, so the drives take a little more patience.
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