Ruaha National Park makes up, along with Selous Game Reserve, Mikumi National Park and Udzungwa Mountains National Park the ‘southern safari circuit’ in Tanzania. The park is the second largest in Tanzania after Serengeti National Park. It is a vast and magnificent wilderness, which in 2004 received 3,000 visitors. The park is about the size of Northern Ireland, being 12,950 sq km (4,980 sq miles). The park is remote, which accounts for the small number of visitors. It is 112km (70 miles) from Iringa on a recently upgraded dirt road, 332km (208 miles) from Mikumi National Park and 615km (385 miles) for Dar-es-Salaam.
Ruaha National Park takes its name from the Great Ruaha River which flows through the park. Ruaha is a corruption of the Hehe word ‘luhava’, meaning river. The park has a varied terrain, ranging from wooded hills to open plains with many large baobob trees.
Many who know Africa’s national parks consider Ruaha to be one of the best kept secrets, listing it as their favourite. We certainly agree with this view having visited the park on many occasions during the last 12 years. One of the attractions is the lack of visitors, which helps provide a sense of solitude; we have often been on game drives and seen no other vehicles. Another attraction is huge variety of wildlife.
The park has over 12,000 elephants, which is the biggest population of any national park in Tanzania (Selous Game Reserve, with 55-65,000 elephants, has a larger population). There are also large herds of buffalo, numbering over 30,000 and many giraffe and zebra. The number and variety of animals is impressive, particularly predators. Lions are numerous with large prides, often exceeding 20. On one morning game drive we were particularly fortunate to view three prides. In addition to lion, there are leopards, cheetah, African wild dogs, jackel and spotted hyenas.
The Great Ruaha River is home to large numbers of hippopotamus, crocodiles and water birds. Over 450 species of birds have been identified in the park.
We consider Ruaha National Park to be the ideal safari experience, especially for guests who want to view a large number of animals and birds in a magnificent wilderness setting, away from the crowds. Guests can either fly to Ruaha or travel by road in an air conditioned 4WD vehicle. Flights are from Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar and Selous Game Reserve. The cheaper option is to travel by road. This is an attractive alternative for guests wanting to visit Mikumi National Park and/or Iringa. It is possible to travel by air in one direction and road in the other.
The accommodation we use in Ruaha National Park is Mdonya Old River Camp, Ruaha River Lodge and Tandala Tented Camp (5km outside the park boundary).
Ruaha National Park is open all year, even through the rainy season from March to June, when most of the park’s dirt tracks/roads are passable. |
