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| Leopard |
Ruaha National Park can truly be hit or miss. The low densities of wildlife, expansive landscape, and relatively limited road access combine for long days of seeing relatively little or amazingly intimate wildlife sightings. The dry season compounds this with the chances of wildlife congregating around limited water sources being higher but the lack of water means there is little else happening in the landscape like flowering shrubs and trees. I had a great weekend trip but it was truly the tale of two days, summing up the Ruaha experience perfectly.
The first day I planned to visit an area of the park that I rarely visit. It's far away from water sources, full of tsetse flies, and has very little wildlife. But I love the feeling of exploration and one of Ruaha's defining features is the massive open space. I traveled far and had some great sightings of buffalo and elephant though all the wildlife was very skittish. I did not find a river crossing that I was attempting and since I was alone I did not want to push my luck.
The next day I had a more relaxed day and lo and behold, the wildlife came to me. I had an intimate sighting of a leopard and then I found a buffalo kill with some lions and vultures. I spent a few hours with the lions and enjoyed the solitude of the sighting with no one else around. The lions were satiated and very tame so I could get very close to them. I enjoyed watching vultures slowly come to the carcass and the lions half-heartedly chasing them away every so often.
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I love the aesthetic of Baobab trees
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Always pleased to see elephants
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So full he can't be bothered by the camera in his face
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Almost finished off that buffalo
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