Times in Tanzania: Ruaha National Park: Trips I & II

The Great Ruaha River

This month we were lucky enough to take two trips to Ruaha National Park, the nearest national park from where we live. It's only about a 40 minute drive to the gate from where we live and we'll likely take many trips to the park for both work and pleasure. Ruaha National Park is the largest national park in East Africa at 20,226 square kilometers (7,809 sq mi). The park is known for its expansive space and varied habitats such as rolling hills, large open plains, groves of baobabs, and along its southern border, the Great Ruaha River, from which the park gets its name. Most tourists come in the dry season when wildlife is abundant along the river.

Our first trip to the park was with two of our friends that live in nearby Iringa. They've visited the park several times but said that most trips were with different groups of people so they ended up doing the tried and true "river circuit". They wanted to see a different area of the park and we agreed we would circumvent a big hill and then make our way to the river. We then camped overnight at the public campsite by the river.

The first visit was a great introduction to Ruaha. The park is quite different than the parks we were accustomed to in the north with a much "bigger" feeling landscape and significantly less animals. The animals were also much more skittish compared to the mostly habituated animals in the north. We loved the huge views of the rolling hills and the river and we understood why many people enjoyed the wild feel of the park. When we camped at night we heard hippos making noise in the river all night, as well as lions nearby! It was unfortunately a full moon so sleeping was a bit difficult in the tent as it felt like someone had left a light on.

Our second trip was just ourselves and we tried driving to a supposed wetlands. Problem was, now is the dry season and the area was almost completely dry. There was barely any wildlife and the area was infested with tsetse flies. This meant that we had to roll our windows up (our car has no a/c) and within an hour we were desperate to leave that area of the park. I had actually taken my shirt off and we were both drenched with sweat as we finally reached a dry sandy river that was without tsetse flies. The rest of the afternoon we spent along the dry river and then passed by the river on our way out.

We saw some great wildlife that we don't see in the north, including Lesser and Greater Kudu. Elephants were quite abundant, as well as gazelles, giraffes, and some zebra. We didn't see any lions, leopards or cheetahs, though apparently they are quite difficult to find. Unlike the parks in the north where animals literally come up to your car, Ruaha requires more patience, which we look forward to practicing with each visit to the park!