Ruaha National Park

The Ruaha National Park is the first natural park in Tanzania by extension and one of the largest in Africa, it has an area of ​​about 10,000 km², without considering the protected areas and the surrounding hunting reserves that place it in an area of ​​about 45,000 sq. Km without human settlements.

It extends partly in the territory of the Great Rift Valley and partly in the plateau near the town of Iringa. Access difficulties, especially in the past, have meant that the area has remained virtually untouched.

The park crossed by the homonymous river Ruaha, which constitutes the eastern boundary of the park, and is famous for its spectacular gorges where numerous specimens of crocodiles and hippos are easily spotted.

Inside the park there are a great variety of different habitats and ecosystems: the plateau is rich in Miombo forests, while lower down, in the Rift bed, forests of acacia and baobab trees alternate, marshy areas, hills, grasslands and evergreen forest, with palms and ficus sicomori on the sides of seasonal rivers and streams.

The park is home to all the representatives of African wildlife: elephants, buffaloes, zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, giraffes, warthogs, monkeys and, of course, lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs and hyenas, as well as 370 different species of birds, some of which they are not present in other parts of Tanzania.

WHEN TO VISIT THE RUAHA

Ruaha from June to November:

This is traditionally considered the best time to visit the park and corresponds to the dry season. The almost absolute lack of temporary water sources forces the herbivores and their predators, who in the green season have dispersed in a vast hinterland, to concentrate along the only source of water still available: the Great Ruaha River and the beds dry of the seasonal streams where the elephants dig the wells to reach the underground water. At the same time, the vegetation loses much of the foliage and the grass mats become an expanse of almost only sand. The combination of these factors means that the number of sightings rises considerably compared to the green months and is constant. This is the best time for walking safaris and night safaris.

Ruaha from December to May:

n Ruaha the rains follow a different course both from the coastal one and from that of the northern highlands.

They normally start towards the end of November, reaching their peak between December and January and then gradually decreasing from February until they disappear completely in May, which can actually be considered a dry season in the same way as the months that follow it until November. In December, therefore, the landscape begins to change and becomes greener, the vegetation leaves and the seasonal streams begin to flow. Precisely because of the vegetation the sightings become less abundant and less regular but qualitatively compensated by the many new births. If fortunate you could witness a birth. On the other hand, sightings of black antelope and roan antelope will become very unlikely, given the presence of temporary water sources they now prefer to remain in the plateau still inaccessible due to the lack of viable tracks.

In May and April, most of the structures do not receive guests, actually more due to the need for seasonal closure than for real climate-related difficulties.

The wildness of the Ruaha, the high number of animal species that it hosts, the relatively low number of visitors due to the high costs to reach it, the availability of highly qualified guides especially at Mwagusi and Kwihala make Ruaha a privileged choice for lovers of the safari.

The lack of slopes that forces a low number of visitors to concentrate in a small part of the park, creating situations of considerable traffic in high season, the lower concentration of cats compared to the Serengeti and the high dispersion of animals in the green season, the high ones costs to reach it and to stay there, make it for other aspects less attractive than a safari in the northern parks.

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