Home of the ‘Great Ruaha River’

At a glance

Size: 123,000 sq km (3,980 sq miles

Location: Central Tanzania, 128km (80 miles) west of Iringa.

What to do: Day walks or hiking safaris through untouched bush.

Stone age ruins at Isimila, near Iringa, 120 km (75 miles) away, one of Africa's most important historical sites .

Accommodation: Riverside lodge and three dry season tented camps; self-catering bandas, two campsites

Getting there: Year-round road access through Iringa from Dar es Salaam (about 10 hours) via Mikumi or from Arusha via Dodoma. Scheduled and/or charter flights from Dar es Salaam, Selous, Serengeti, Arusha, Iringa and Mbeya.

Best time: For predators and large mammals, dry season (mid-May-December); bird-watching, lush scenery and wildflowers, wet season (January-April). The male greater kudu is most visible in June, the breeding season.

Birds: more than 530 species of birds have been recorded.

Wildlife highlights: lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, buffalo, greater and lesser kudu and Grant’s gazelle. 

Climate: Due to its high average altitude of 1000 meters, nights in Ruaha are delightfully cool, in June dropping down to sometimes 6 degrees C but reaching a very pleasing 25 degrees in the daytime. As the season progresses it gets gradually warmer reaching upto 35 degrees C in the day but always cooling down wonderfully come nightfall. The rains in Ruaha begin in about December which then turns the park into a green paradise with all its numerous sand rivers torrentially flowing. Game viewing is a little harder at this time but for scenery, beauty, birds and flowers it is by far the best time of year. 

Overview

A pristine and largely undiscovered wilderness, the 23,000 square-kilometre Ruaha National Park is Tanzania’s second-largest park. An unforgettable landscape, one of the last remaining tracts of the original Africa as it existed millions of years ago, the park is dominated by the Great Ruaha River, from which it takes its name (Ruaha means ‘great’). 

Africa as it used to be

Undeveloped and undisturbed, the park offers spectacular wildlife to include herds of more than 10,000 elephants and vast concentrations of buffalo and  gazelle. Boasting one of the largest species counts of large mammal of any park, it also promises an abundance of: giraffes, zebras, impalas, elands, hippos, crocodiles, lions and leopards. As for the rarer mammals, they include sable and roan antelope, lesser kudus and Grant’s gazelles. Ruaha is also home to the second largest population of wild dog in Africa.

The great Ruaha River

The Great Ruaha River, the main feature of the park, offers spectacular game viewing whether done by land or by water. Hippos yawn under the midday sun and crocodiles lie lazily along the banks. Fish eagles dive and swoop along the riverbanks, and at night the sound of frogs croaking in the reeds extends across the hills and plains. Boating safaris are starting to gain in popularity, and provide a popular alternative to viewing the area by car.

Landscape

Ruaha sprawls within and along an ancient arm of the Great Rift Valley, covering a unique transition zone where the Eastern and Southern species of both fauna and flora meet against a dramatic topographical background. The vast majority of the park above the escarpment is "Miombo Woodland"  and is rarely visited. The scenery here is quite dramatic with tall Brachysteiga trees forming a continuous woodland housing some specialist species of antelope such as the magnificent sable as well as several miombo specializing birds. The more developed section of the park is at a much lower altitude and is known as the Ruaha valley. Some of Ruahas' best features are found in this section of the park from massive rocky hills and outcrops to thick dense impenetrable bush all the way to more open grasslands in the East. The most striking features are is numerous serpentine dry "sand rivers" which criss cross the park lined with dense cooling riverine vegetation where many animals take refuge.