Ruaha National Park

Superb safari in Ruaha NP

Me and two of my friends started our three day, three night safari by flying in to Ruaha Mwakusi airstrip. From there we were picked up by our guides and headed out to the wild. We had excellent guide crew, they had wide knowledge of animals and plants and were really nice company for us. Also the bush lunches they served us were really tasty.

Ruaha is full of animals, already during the first hours of the first day we saw huge amount of them, including lions and leopard. And the same continued the following days, possibly the biggest highlight was watching pack of four cheetah to stalk their prey for few hours. Overall we counted that we saw something like thirty different mammals, and at least as many birds. Scenery of the park was very nice, there was a lot of variety and not just flat plans. It was also not crowded at all there, we perhaps saw one or two other cars there, so we were pretty much on our own all the time.

We stayed at the Mdonya Old River camp, which is open area where animals can (and will) roam freely. We enjoyed listening to the nightly noises around our tents, we preferred that over lodge accommodation. Everything worked smoothly in the camp, and the dinners they made us were of highest quality. Exchanging experiences of the day at campfire with other travelers was nice ending for a day.

I can fully recommend Ruaha for your safari destination, you will enjoy the peace you have compared to the other crowded parks and all it has to offer. One of us has been in many parks in Africa before, and he considered it possibly the best experience he has had so far. I can easily believe him.

Ruaha - if you want to avoid the crowd

Even though it is the largest National Park in Tanzania, it does not carry the same touristy tag as Serengeti. This was exactly why we chose this park during our first visit to Tanzania in June 2014.
The park is rather remote and we were flown in by Coastal Airways from Tarangire. The Kwihala Camp had 6 double-bedded tents and therefore had that personal touch from our hostess Sandra and her staff. The facilities at the camp were superb with great food and wine.
Our guides, Lorenzo and Leverd were full of enthusiasm and were not hesitant to go that extra mile whenever needed. The camp had a few vehicles and we were lucky enough to get a vehicle for just 2 of us most of the time. The vehicles are side-open (top-covered) which have their pros and cons – great for general wildlife viewing but rather restrictive to watch and photographs birds in flight. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pravin_nahar/15493381299/in/album-72157649073470005/)
We were greeted with a superb sunset near the Ruaha river on the day of our arrival.

The usual arrays of wildlife and birds will keep you interested. We had some close (but safe) encounters with elephants.

The highlight of the trip was to watch a pride of 1 lion (named Grumpy by the locals) and 11 lionesses. The pride was feeding on an elephant died naturally a few days before our arrival. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pravin_nahar/15493869208/in/album-72157649073470005/)
There were 3 young brothers who, being evicted from this pride, were trying to sneak in to have a bite or two. Their encounter with Grumpy (the leader) was something of a life-time experience for us – he managed to chase them (the 3 brothers) away one by one, making sure his pride is well looked after. The role of the lion (even though he doesn’t take part in hunting) in the pride was very obvious!!
In simple words, if you want a safari experience minus the crowd, visit Ruaha.

For my photos please copy and paste the link in your browser: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pravin_nahar/sets/72157649073470005

A spectacular alternative to the crowded northern circuit and certainly worth a trip of its own.

Ruaha is my favorite Tanzanian national park due to its fairly remote location and the spectacular landscape. An incredible variety of wildlife and some very well-trained outfits operating there. Ruaha's remote location and massive area, two of the things that are most attractive, are also its main vulnerabilities. I had made many visits to the park when I lived in the area from 2005-2008 and was concerned when I returned earlier this year because of all of the accelerated poaching that's gone on in the area over the last several years. Ruaha's remote location and massive area, two of the things that are most attractive, are also its main vulnerabilities. The quality of safaris for guests however, remains mostly unchanged in my opinion. Most of the game viewing tracks are in a relatively small portion of the park that is well-protected. Having heard so much about how hard the park has been hit, I was surprised at the abundance of wildlife (this is of course not to minimize the scale of the problem in Ruaha, particularly farther afield in the north and out into the WMAs and game reserves).

I've stayed at River Lodge and Mwagusi in the past (only River Lodge on this visit) and have to say that both Chris and Peter Fox run top notch operations: well maintained camps, excellent food and services, and really do a spectacular job training their guides on Ruaha-specific flora and fauna.

Two recommendations:
1. "Ruaha National Park: An Intimate View" by Sue Stolberger, is probably the best guide out there to flowers, plants, and trees of miombo woodlands, not just in Ruaha but for most of the country. It's a bit cumbersome to navigate until you get used to it, as the plants aren't grouped taxonomically, but Sue's insights and comments more than make up for this minor setback. I've seen a number of guides even up on the northern circuit using it as a reference. It is tough to get a copy of, but the main gate of the Park has copies in their storage room if you ask specifically for it. That is where I purchased a copy in May. I think it was US$45.

2. "A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania" by Charles and Lara Foley is another excellent resource that has recently become available and can be purchased more widely. It is also easy to use in the field as well with a good index that makes looking up details a breeze.

Amazing experience

I've lived in Iringa town, just a 2 hour drive from Ruaha National Park and I've been to Ruaha multiple times. You can stay in a luxerious campsite or go for the Government Bandas, just 20 US dollars a night. It's basic and you need to bring your own food, but there is a decent toilet, shower, nets and some bandas where you can chill and drink a nice Tanzanian beer with a view over Ruaha River, and if you are lucky, some elephants. There is no fence, so during the night you can expect animal visitors, but there is an armed guard. Close to the bandas there is a campsite too, where you can camp with your tent at your own risk, since there is no fence too.
The scenery is beautiful, with hills and so much variety. The park has over 10,000 elephants, so it's easy to spot them, esp. in the dry season. Hippos, impalas and girafes are easy to spot too. If you are lucky you can spot lions and cheetas. In the wet some of the roads are not accesable, but the scenery is beautiful; so much green and it's a great season for watching exotic birds. If you are going with your own transport you can 'hire' a guide in the park or you can arrange a driver/guide in Iringa town. There is a couple organisations who arrange safaris.
I would recommend this park to everyone, although I hope it will maintain quiet with tourists now, so you really have the feeling you are alone in the park like you have now.

Ruaha's Wildlife: The real deal.

I've visited Ruaha National Park as part of a field trip for Biology Students.
We got a very unique camp site at the side of the Ruaha River. The view was absolutely stunning. During our siesta's at noon, we could even see groups of elephants passing by and 2 huge fish eagles had their nest on the top of a tree on the other side of the river.
The weather was perfect. Warm, but not too hot, and cool (but not cold) at night.

The park is huge an you can drive for hours trough the beautiful nature without bumping in to another jeep. Some places of the park are really green, while others are more savanna-like and very dry.

Most of the time we had our own guide, but one day we had a guided walk by a park ranger. He knew a lot about the animals and their tracks and dangers. Very interesting! We even walked along the river revealing many kinds of bird species.

So, in short. Ruaha National Park is really worth a visit!!

Ruaha National Park is one of the most fantastic parks in Africa.

Ruaha NP has beautiful scenery, lots of different animals, big herds of giraffs and buffalos and very few tourists. Brings you the realy african feeling. Have been there 4 times and look forward to the next time...

Ruaha, a real taste of wild Africa

In the last 10 years I have visited many of the best well known national parks in Africa, including those of Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. During October and November of this year 2015, I traveled to Tanzania again to explore Selous, Mikumi and Ruaha and end the trip in Mafia Island for diving with whale sharks. The plan is basically always the same, buy a flight to a major city (in this case Dar es Salaam), prepare a driving gps with off-road programs, points of interest and hundreds of maps, and rent a 4WD vehicle with camping equipment if possible.

We arrived to Ruaha NP after having visited Selous and Mikumi, it took us about 8 hours from Mikumi, with a two hour stop in Iringa to refuel and buy some food, water and drinks. From Iringa to Ruaha NP the road is not very good and you will need a 4WD car, you have two options to make the second half of the route, take the one to the right, the road is much better.

At the main gate you will spend some time, paperwork is slow, also payment by credit card is preferred, if you are not sure of the number of days you are going to stay, you can always extend your permit in the HQ office close to the airstrip, like we did twice. The accommodation options are the usual, expensive luxury private lodges, cottages, bandas and camping but not very massive. I can only tell about camping because I have never used the other options. We were assigned to "public campsite #1", it is located in the Ruaha river bank with a very scenic view, some trees provide shadow and there are some facilities like a kitchen building and very basic toilets, we were the only group in the campsite. Campsite #1 is about two or three km from the rangers camp, it was a pleasure to share a beer with the park people in the community hall every night, you can even join the buffet they have available for the park personnel and their families (10,000 tsh or 5 USD).

If you have good maps loaded in your off-road gps you don't need a guide to move safely around Ruaha NP, if in doubt, just ask anyone in the community hall, but the best routes for game drive are obvious, simply follow the river sides. If you are not good at spotting animals you will appreciate the help of a guide that you can hire in the rangers camp for about 30 dollars a day. We start the morning game driving very early in the morning after a brief breakfast, and it usually lasts until we can no longer stand the heat, then we go back to the campsite to have a shower and a rest. Wildlife is great in Ruaha, we saw lots of elephants, giraffes, buffalos, wildbeast, zebras, waterbuck, impalas, warthogs, grand kudus, hipos, crocodiles, osprays, ostriches, etc. As for predators we saw hyenas, leopards, jackals, wild dogs and lots of lions, we missed cheetah, we were told that in that season they move to another part of the park. Game drive in the evenings is also very interesting but I prefer to choose a good spotting point close to the river and relax watching how animals come to drink. We spent 5 days in Ruaha NP, so we had time to explore the hills and some other parts of the park, specially Mwagusi river, where we found the wild dogs pack.

October and November are very hot in Ruaha, but it is the beginning of the raining season and we were rewarded with a couple wonderful storms. We were told by the people in the HQ camp that the park was in lack of visitors, and that it was diificult to maintain the park with such a low number of visitors. Poaching is a big problem in Ruaha because it is a very large park.

We met just a few tourist, Ruaha is not Serengueti or Ngoro-ngoro where you can meet dozens of other vehicles in every game drive, in Ruaha you may meet one or two if you are lucky, and we always stopped and shared our findings (the elephants herd drinking in the river or the pride of lions eating a zebra in the river side).

In general, Ruaha is, if not the best, one of the two best parks I have visited, I cannot tell about luxury lodges or other accommodation types, but camping is great and you will enjoy the nature very close. Campsite #1 will surprise you, a pride of lions lives there and will share the camp with you, just respect the norms and follow the recommendations and you will be safe.

I hope this comments help someone to enjoy Ruaha as we did.

Regards,
Alberto Aragones

Outstanding experience. We hardly saw any other 4 x 4's, average was about 1 a day.

A real feel of Africa with amazing wildlife and people

Hi folks,

I have just written a few reviews on the two safaris we did with Serene Tours Tanzania, but I want to share my feelings about Ruaha National Park and the other Tanzanian National Parks. Also I don't want you to make the same mistakes as we did in terms of parks selections and time of the year we, I, visited these parks.

Back in January, with my better half, we did a Southern Tanzania safaris circuit. The National Parks visited were Selous, Rufiji, Mikumi, Uduzungwa Mountains and Ruaha. We had an amazing time, it was simply stunning and it will remain a lifetime memory. A couple of days ago I did a northern circuit safari, where I visited on my own Serengeti and Ngorongoro, it was also spectacular but, way too crowded!

Ruaha is my favorite National Park in Tanzania, it has a real feel of Africa, stunning wildlife and people are amazing. Lodges were beautiful, food was good, our guide was amazing... Well, in a nutshell do not hesitate do to Ruaha!

My advice to you guys is, start with the Northern Circuits, chose the time of the year and then only visit the South of Tanzania, and do not miss out on Ruaha!

Enjoy your safaris in Tanzania!

Xavier

An awe-inspiring experience

This was the first time we'd visited Ruaha in the green season and it was a completely different experience from the dry season. I hadn't expected everything to be so lush. Everywhere was green, green, green! The birdlife was amazing - so many different species that it was difficult to know where to point the camera at times. One disappointment was that we didn't see as many raptors as usual. Because a lot of the animals had moved away from the area as there was no scarcity of water, a lot of the raptors had gone with them. Animal sightings were pretty good too, though obviously not as many as in the dry season. The weather was wonderful - we had no rain during our eight day stay and it was pleasantly warm day and night, though it did heat up a bit during the middle of the day but not uncomfortably so. Our camp (Mwagusi Safari Camp) was terrific as always with the most wonderful food and friendly staff. Our guide was exceptional, as was our driver. Ruaha is really picturesque with the most beautiful, varied landscape although the proliferation of trees and bushes did make photography a little tricky at times. We choose Ruaha because it is more remote than other parks in Tanzania, and consequently much less crowded. We have already booked to go back next year!