Ruaha National Park

As a university student, we went on a trip through Tanzania, Ruaha was one of our stops. It was my first safari experience, and it made me hungry for more... It was a great park. We had an amazing time driving around, looking for wildlife and enjoying the scenery. The river was a hotspot for wildlife, including hippos and crocodiles. The plains give you a great opportunity to scan for wildlife. We stayed in tents near the river (not sure if it was an existing campsite, or it was just made for us). The noises were amazing. Something I do remember is seeing a cell phone tower in the distance. It was great for phone coverage, but it didn't fit the picture (it was very far away though, probably most people will not notice it). I enjoyed every minute in the park, but the most memorable moment was the bush walk. We went on foot with a ranger along the riverbank. It was an amazing feeling, it kind of exposes you as you know you are vulnerable. Overall, it was a great experience! Definitely worth a visit.

Ruaha was probably the most splendid park we have spent time in. Beautiful baobab valley on the way there and hundreds of elephants inside the park along with all other kind of wild life did make a huge impression.

Ruaha National Park is located in the southern parts of Tanzania, it is part of what is know as the southern circuit. If you were to fly directly from the Serengeti to Ruaha it would take a couple of hours, Coastal has flights that connect the two parks. You can also access this park by light aircraft arriving from the Selous, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. It goes well with a Serengeti Safari and also combined with Selous. What is interesting about this park is that it is the largest national park in Tanzania (about 20,226 square kilometres). Tanzania can be a little confusing with its game reserves, national parks and the different park rules. What you need to know is that you can do some walking, fly-camping is permitted but no night drives, so you will always need to be in camp between sunset and sunrise. There is enough excitement during the day and you will need the night to share stories and relax. What I love most about Ruaha is not that it is remote but that it feels remote. When you arrive, you know you are in a remote and raw natural area. The airstrip becomes a meeting place where you run into people that you have either seen at the airport, other airstrips or other camps. It is a place for not fellow safari goers but also for guides to connect. It seems that it is also a favorite spot for the lilac-breasted rollers to pose for a photo and for elephants and other plains game to stroll along the airstrip. Keep your camera ready when you are landing and taking off as it is then that you realise how rich in wildlife the park really is. The camps are well spread out, I love this about Ruaha as you seldom see other vehicles on game drives. That said, some parts are accessible for self drive visitors. You could easily spend a week in Ruaha and not feel bored, you can spend entire days out on a game drive to cover more ground. You can even split your stay between two camps, I highly recommend this as the areas that the camps are in, are far enough apart so that you won't be backtracking. If Roan and Sable are main interests they are found in different parts of the park so make this clear when looking for a camp to stay at to ensure that your needs are met. The game and bird life here is incredible and one of the things that really stood out for me is whenever we stopped to look at something, sitting on the edge of our seats and listening to the guide talk, there was always more than one thing to see. There is not much activity focused on water here, there are some routes that follow the riverbed, mostly dry (sometimes almost dry) and at other times flowing (it depends greatly on the time of the year). Activities are in the form of game drives and walking (walking needs to be arranged in advance). The quality of guides in Ruaha is high, it would have to be given the remote location of the park. This is of course very important as the quality of your guide is directly related to the overall enjoyment of your safari. All the guides that I spent time with here were resident guides and the great thing about this is that they knew the area very well. The best experience I had in Ruaha was watching a herd of elephants dig for water in the dry river bed. We sat for ages just watching them interact. There were no other vehicles around and it felt like the rest of the world did not exist.

I did a safari in Ruaha three years ago. It was my first experience on African soil. I was overwhelmed by its scope, its mammals and my nights spent in lodges. Unforgettable. And, yes, poaching exists. My guides showed me an elephant that had been killed 10 days earlier. Its head removed by chainsaws. My photos allow me to educate my friends on the horrific slaughtering of the pachyderm. I very much enjoyed visiting a park with little tourists. It was a bit as if I'd had my own private tour. Do not hesitate to do a safari in Ruaha, Tanzania. ____________________________________________________________________ J'y ai fait un safari de 3 jours. C'était ma première expérience en sol africain. J'ai été conquise par son étendue, ses mammifères et mes nuits passé en lodge. Mémorable. Eh oui le braconnage existe. Mes guides m'ont guidé vers un éléphant mort 10 jours plus tôt. Sa tête sciée à la scie mécanique. Maintenant au pays, mes photos me permette de sensibiliser mes amis-ies, à l'hécatombe du pachyderme. J'ai beaucoup aimé de visiter un parc sans touriste à grand échelle. C'est un peu comme si j'avais eu un tour privé. N'hésitez surtout pas. Accueil et souvenir mémorables.

Ruaha National Park is a remote, peaceful, isolated and beautiful Tanzanian Park. This park offers unmatched game drive experience with less vehicle in the park in comparison with northern Tanzanian Parks. The environment at Ruaha is wild, authentic and untouched in comparison to Northern Parks. Predators in the park have higher concentration than other southern parks and it is a paradise for Elephant lovers and you will find pack/groups of elephants every here and there in the park. On the banks of Ruaha River, You can enjoy a natural/guided walk. You will enjoy the walk at most as the park is also home to more than 400 birds species. Witnessing crocodiles on the Ruaha river bank or facing a group of more than 20 elephants can as fascinating and memorable for a lifetime as anything. Finally, just to conclude the beauty of the park, Any safari to Southern Tanzania is incomplete if it does not include Ruaha National Park. The Most amazing views, authentic wildlife, pleasant viewing, peaceful environment and pleasant weather awaits for you at the park.

Having visited Ruaha last September during the dry season, I was eager to return after the rains had come as I know what a dramatic change it can be in Southern Tanzania. While the animals tend to concentrate along the river during the dry season making for a prolific game drive, there are still many animals to be seen during the green season. However, with the trees in full-leaf and the grass much taller, you have to be more tuned into your surroundings in order to spot the animals. You see one or two elephants and suddenly 3-4 materialize out of the bush so silently. The colors of the animals also seem more vibrant against the green landscape. Overall, I would recommend that one should try to visit the park in both seasons, and if I had to choose, I would definitely go in Jan or Feb. I stayed at a lodge in the park and had a mixed experience given that the windows were only screened therefore when there was heavy rain during the night, the wind & rain blew into the room. As well during the wet season, it is best to check your bed sheets for spiders etc. As the lodge is situated on the Ruaha River, the nocturnal sounds of the hippos can either be exciting or disturbing as they continue throughout the night calling and snorting amongst each other. However the morning brings a brilliant sunrise over the mountains along with hippos, birds and occasional lions returning from the hunt. If you like to be away from the crowds and not in a convoy of safari vehicles then this is a park for you!

I visited Ruaha on the heels of visiting Selous. I thought the two would be very similar and, in some respects, they were. But, Ruaha has even more dense foliage and less visitors. So, the animals were a bit harder to spot, but there were less crowds. I prefer northern Serengeti because of the closed-sided vehicles and because you can do a private safari. Oh, and the tsetse flies were pretty bad in Ruaha! Wear light coloured clothing.

After spending time in northern Tanzania, I wasn't prepared for the marked change in climate in southern Tanzania. Ruaha is dense with foliage and has tsetse flies and mosquitoes galore. If you can look past that, it's what I thought a safari was supposed to be! We saw a fair number of lions and were pleasantly surprised at the paucity of fellow tourists. We were only there a few days before heading to Selous, but I would return...with ample light colored clothing!