The Selous Game Reserve was first set aside as a wildlife reserve as early as 1896 by German Kaiser Wilhelm II and takes its name from renowned Hunter, explorer, writer and soldier Frederick Courtney Selous, who was killed during the First World War inside the reserve and was buried near to the spot where he fell (marked by a grave to this day.)

The Selous has a long and varied history, crossed by explorers in 1859-60 (Burton, Speke and von Decken) and before that by slavery caravans delivering both slaves and ivory to the coast. In 1905 the Maji-Maji (Water-Water) uprising was inspired by 'magic' water, reputed to be sourced close to the Rufiji River, which was believed to make warriors invulnerable.

Born in London in 1851, Frederick Courtney Selous set himself up as a professional hunter in Africa at the age of 20. Though he began his career as a big game hunter his books gained him a world-renowned reputation as a naturalist, due in no small part to his precise observations about the ecology and wildlife. Selous was one of a small band of men who became legends in their own lifetimes back in the Victorian era, when tales of adventurous exploits in "darkest Africa" exemplified the spirit of the time.

After the First World War, German East Africa became the British Protectorate of Tanganyika and the area was expanded from four existing protected areas into one conglomerate which in 1922 was named 'Selous.'

During the 1930's and 40's in a fight against sleeping sickness, the Tanganyika Protectorate administration moved the population away from tsetse fly areas. To prevent any movement back, the these wilderness areas were added to the existing Game Reserve.

From 1973 to 1990 a poaching crisis swept the Selous. Hunting had been banned by the Government and as the professional hunters moved out of the Reserve, poachers moved in. In 1982, when the Selous was declared a World Heritage Site by the UN, the mass slaughter of elephants had already begun. An estimated 20 elephants died daily at the hands of poachers and reduced their number from 110,000 in 1976 to under 30,000 in 1989.