Ruaha National Park
About Ruaha National Park
Ruaha offers excellent wildlife viewing and is particularly good for spotting predators, including very large prides of lions and the endangered wild dogs. It also has outstanding wilderness appeal, with only a few exclusive luxury camps available.
Size: 13000 km² / 3980 mi²
Altitude: 720-1886 m / 2362-6188 ft
In the heart of Tanzania far in its remoteness on the southern circuit is Ruaha National Park the largest National Park in this country. The National park is one of the few famous Tanzania’s far wildernesses with extensive ecosystem covering an area of about 13,000 square kilometers, which includes Rungwa Game Reserve, Usangu Game Reserve, Kizigo and Muhesi Game Reserves, and several other protected areas. Ruaha National park is located in the middle of Tanzania 130 kilometers from Iringa with the well-known varied dramatic scenery, Its ecosystem represents a transition zone between the miombo woodlands common in Zambia, open savannah biomes, typical of Northern Tanzania and Kenya , fascinating rolling hills & landscapes, large open plains, groves of skeletal baobab studded rocky escarpments characterized with untamed Wildlife, higher the concentration of Predators and along its southern the border is its most dominant geographical feature – the Great Ruaha River flowing along with its southeastern margin attracting higher the concentration of animals and the park derives its name Ruaha National Park from this river. This Ruaha National Park is a wilder and more remote park than its neighboring Selous Game Reserve to the south which makes it relatively inaccessible with fewer tourists than any other National Park on the Northern circuit in Tanzania but this has made its striking Ecosystem and authentic wilderness remain untouched and unexplored by far the better place for unique Wildlife and adventure experiences with fewer crowds of tourists.
Tourist Attractions in the Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park though it is among the least visited National Parks, it is unique with numerous plants over 1,650 plant species, birds and mammal species from both Southern and Eastern Africa that inhabits the National Park simultaneously. It’s a thrilling atmosphere emanating from its unrestricted wilderness with a great combination of species from the East and the South supports the reliability of exciting Predator concentration, such as Lions, Cheetahs, Leopards, striped hyenas and the largest population of African wild dogs in the world is found here, usually accompanied by huge elephant and buffalo herds and a cross-over of prolific game greater which include lesser kudu, hippos, crocodiles, grant gazelle, impalas, elands, sable and roan antelopes, defassa waterbucks, ostrich, giraffes, black-backed jackals, bat-eared foxes, hartebeest, etc. Apart from large mammals, the park also harbors a number of reptiles and amphibians such as Crocodiles, poisonous and non-poisonous Snakes, Monitor Lizards, Agama Lizards, and Frogs.
The Birdlife in Ruaha National Park is prolific, whopping 580 bird species have been recorded with an abundance of Raptors, Vultures and Hornbills and numerous waterbirds as well as migrating species from Europe, Asia, Australian rim and Madagascar that comes to the river especially the sooty falcon from the Sahara desert and rare Eleanora’s falcon from the Mediterranean have been recorded in the park, other Species of interest that tourists usually don’t miss out include Ruaha red-billed hornbill which is dominant in the area, goliath herons, saddle-billed storks, white-headed plovers ,white-backed night heron plus many others. The recently annexed wetland, the Usangu basin is one of the country’s important bird area (IBA) as recognized by Birdlife International. Birds in Ruaha National Park can be seen all the year-round but the best time for Bird Watching is during the wet season especially in March.
Tourism Activities in the Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park is extraordinary with a wide range of Tourist Activities offered in the National Park, tourists who are interested in visiting this Tanzania’s largest national park can undertake tourist activities which include;
Game Drives
Game drives, here are the main and quintessential adventure activities that most tourists undertake as they enjoy the amazing wilderness with its rich diversity of wildlife, beautiful sceneries from fascinating landscapes, the great Ruaha River and various bird species while seated comfortably in a safari vehicle. On your game drive, you can enjoy the fantastic Predators – Lions on the shores of the river, Cheetah on the open plains and Leopard although as elusive as ever, in quite substantial numbers accompanied by other majestic wildlife.
Walking Safari
Get up close with nature and soak yourself into the real wonders of the park while on a walking safari through the virgin bushes stretching up your legs too, encounter with the tiny animals in the park that can’t be spotted in a safari vehicle and get to appreciate all the intricate details of this wilderness while being accompanied by your park ranger/guide.
Bird Watching
For avid bird watchers, just with a great pair of your Binoculars, birding pack, your brimmed hat, comfy footwear, and all that you need to spot your great birds of interest, participate in bird watching Safari here and enjoy the fantastic abundance of over 500 Birdlife which inhabits Ruaha.
Night Game Drives
The majority of the Big Cats are nocturnal Predators, which means that during the daytime game drives, they are likely to be seen lounging about in the shade, however, a night Game drive is an excellent opportunity to explore the night whispers of the park with an armed park ranger and enjoy watching these nocturnal creatures at their peak as they make moves on their unaware sleeping prey. They are always active and on the prowl that will make your safari one of it’s kind.
Cultural Tour
Nothing will put you in the heart of an African adventure quite like including a cultural safari to the neighboring local communities around the park additional to your Game adventure safari, get to interact with the amazing local people namely the Masai people and have an insight of their unique and yet interesting cultures, traditional beliefs and lifestyle which will leave you with wondrous moments.
Best Time to Visit the Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park has a bimodal pattern of the rain forest, the short rainfall season which begins November to February while the long season is between March and April. The park experiences its archetypal dry season between June and October. As a simple rule of thumb, the drier it gets in the National Park, the fewer places there are for Game to access drinking water, and for this Ruaha, it is crisscrossed with a network of rivers including Ruaha River which tends to dry up during the extreme dry season leaving very few sandy water pools many of which retain good clean drinking water through and these occasionally attract more of the park animals to congregate around this easy Game viewing. Also as the park dries out, the bushes and thick vegetation becomes less dense thus easier to spot quite a number of animals, however, it is not to say that the short rainy season starting from November to February is still not an excellent time for your safari because the vegetation starts to flourish prettily and the shrubby bushes are also getting greener and beautiful making beautiful scenarios.
How to Access Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park is a big and wild park west of the Selous Game Reserve and south of Serengeti National Park, It is a really amazing destination with its unbelievable Wildlife but its geographical location is a long distance from the big towns in Tanzania. The park can be reached using a vehicle on road from Iringa or Dar – Es Salaam which is 130km drive from Iringa town and 625km from Dar-Es-salaam. By Air, there are both scheduled and chartered flights that land onto the park’s airstrips which are Msembe Airstrip at Msembe (park central station) and Jongomero Airstrip close to the Jongomero Ranger Post, from Arusha, Dodoma, Kigoma, and Dar-Es-salaam. There is also a new flight connecting the Serengeti and Ruaha, flights from Dar – Es Salaam and the Selous Game Reserve can also be booked for your access to Ruaha National Park.
Accommodation in Ruaha National Park
Numerous accommodation options are offered in Ruaha National Park with beautiful locations in distinct areas both inside and outside the park in their natural setting perfectly blending in categories of lodges, bandas, hostels and tented camps with varying standards of rustic super High end, luxury, mid-range and affordable budget facilities which all greatly have value for money while they provide the perfect wild stay experiences. They include Ruaha River Lodge, Mwagusi Safari Camp, Jongomero Camp, Kigelia Camp, Kwihala Tented Camp, Mdonya Old River Camp, Ikuka Safari Camp, Jabali Ridge, Kichaka Lodge, and many others like Ruaha River Campsite, Mdonya River Campsite, etc. outside the park you can choose from options like Ruaha Hilltop Lodge, Sunset Mountain Lodge, Tandala Tented Camp, Chogela Camp and many others.
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