RUAHA NATIONAL PARK
Seasonal Highlights
July - November
A camp in Ruaha National Park can be combined with a northern safari or with a safari to the Selous Game Reserve and a trip to Zanzibar. Nigel Perks is our expert in this region and we suggest that he accompany a camping safari to Ruaha.
Ruaha is one of the most unspoilt and remote national parks in east Africa. It has an ecosystem as big as the Serengeti yet it has few foreign visitors in comparison.
The game viewing and bird watching is centered on the river, which during the dry season is very low, sometimes down to a mere trickle. Large rock pools are left swarming with huge crocodiles and grunting hippo fighting for space. Huge baobabs dominate the landscape. Parts of the river are lined by some of the most stunning trees in Africa - silver leafed tamarind whose ripe pods attract elephants into the camp at night. Flat topped acacia and beautiful big terminalia trees are interspersed with Sausage trees and combretum. The park is full of undulating hills with rocky kopjes and the great Mpululu Mountains in the distance.
The game viewing in Ruaha is phenomenal. Huge breeding herds of elephant are remarkably unworried by human presence as they amble to water to quench their thirst. There is a wide variety of antelope including greater and lesser kudu. Shy bushbuck creep down to the river to drink and, unusual in east Africa, there are roan and sable antelope. The biggest buck of all, the eland, contrast sharply with the smallest, the dik dik, who are able to disappear completely in their tiny territories. Vast troops of yellow baboon flank the herds of graceful impala.
Dwarf and banded mongoose scurry around foraging for food while leopard can be spotted sheltering in trees along the dry riverbeds. The park has numerous prides of lion. At the end of the dry season, the mountain prides recognized by their lean appearance, are forced to the river for water and food. The battles for territories are powerful and vocal, their roars drowning other night sounds.
Ruaha also boasts one of the last remaining strong-holds for African wild dog. Large packs roam the park hunting down their quarry along the riverbeds. As they rest up under trees it is fascinating to watch their interactive behaviour and to count the numerous pups feeding off a long-suffering mother.
A large percentage of time is spent with binoculars focused on the superb bird life. Glossy ibis and hadada, fish eagle, kingfishers, goliath and night heron as well as stilts and a good variety of storks are found along the river. At night scops owls telephone their call and pearl spotted owls whistle to each, other adding to the noises of crickets and nightjars. The giant eagle owl, whose hoot sounds alarmingly like close lion, make for regular sightings. The varying habitat of the park houses nearly all species of African eagle including the martial, black, long crested, snake and of course the bateleur. Shrikes, weavers, blue waxbills, fire finches, quelia and hornbill including the pale faces and Von der Decken’s are found in the dry bush land.
The Ruaha National Park is Africa as it was - wild and untouched.