East of the Ruaha River

Baobab tree with a hill in the background

The rainy season has slowly begun and as a result the landscape is changing. Trees are putting out their leaves and the dust has settled a bit clearing the air. We've also returned from our holiday abroad so this weekend we were itching to get out into the bush.

We decided to take some advice from a local researcher and explore a road we had not previously driven. The road winds south and east on the border of the park and is a vast uninhabited area with acacia and miombo woodland. We had yet to experience a legitimate miombo woodland so we decided to explore the area.

The area was full of birds and the habitat ranged from secondary growth to undisturbed. We saw loads of interesting birds and although the wildlife was found in low density, we ended up seeing quite a few species such as warthog, giraffe, elephants, dikdik, and the biggest treat of all, a group of Sable. The wildlife was extremely skittish and there were signs of elephants everywhere so we were careful when exiting our car and exploring on foot.

Overall the area was quite beautiful and we noted some hills we'd like to climb in the future as well as a few wetlands that we identified from satellite maps. We feel incredibly lucky to have this vast expanse of wilderness in our backyard!

Ana investigating a hollowed out termite nest. 

Beautiful flower coming out with the rains

Miombo woodland

Another view of the Miombo

Nearly dry riverbed offers some green