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paulshaffner
TW
Visited:
May 2015
Reviewed: Aug 19, 2015
Email paulshaffner | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A spectacular alternative to the crowded northern circuit and certainly worth a trip of its own.
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the scale of the problem in Ruaha, particularly farther afield in the north and out into the WMAs and game reserves).I've stayed at River Lodge and Mwagusi in the past (only River Lodge on this visit) and have to say that both Chris and Peter Fox run top notch operations: well maintained camps, excellent food and services, and really do a spectacular job training their guides on Ruaha-specific flora and fauna.
Two recommendations:
1. "Ruaha National Park: An Intimate View" by Sue Stolberger, is probably the best guide out there to flowers, plants, and trees of miombo woodlands, not just in Ruaha but for most of the country. It's a bit cumbersome to navigate until you get used to it, as the plants aren't grouped taxonomically, but Sue's insights and comments more than make up for this minor setback. I've seen a number of guides even up on the northern circuit using it as a reference. It is tough to get a copy of, but the main gate of the Park has copies in their storage room if you ask specifically for it. That is where I purchased a copy in May. I think it was US$45.
2. "A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania" by Charles and Lara Foley is another excellent resource that has recently become available and can be purchased more widely. It is also easy to use in the field as well with a good index that makes looking up details a breeze.
Javier Barbero
ES
Visited:
July 2015
Reviewed: Aug 9, 2015
Email Javier Barbero | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
adventure & wildlife
Ernest love his work & is an expert of Ruaha N P.
If a good option, you will not regret.
The cooker & the cook was excellent in the trip.
Donal C Wells
Visited:
July 2015
Reviewed: Jul 12, 2015
Uncrowded, walking safari along Great Ruaha River, great numbers of elephants, giraffes, crocs, hippos, zebras, and also mongoose, lions, yellow baboons, rock hyrax, warthogs, impalas, etc. Stay in a rustic banda along the river and make your own dinner to eat as you watch elephants and hippos play in the river below.
Rehema Ilanga
Visited:
March 2014
Reviewed: Jul 12, 2015
Ruaha National Park Scenery and Wildlife.
It's awsome visiting Ruaha National Park especially seeing the wildlife, and, ofcourse the attractive scenery and a fun place to relax on holidays!!!
camselrac1
FR
Visited:
August 2014
Reviewed: May 26, 2015
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very changing landscapes, a lot of animals, few tourists, great guides and very nice ecolodge
Nuno Grilo
Visited:
October 2013
Reviewed: May 21, 2015
This park is great for its exclusivity. We would drive the whole day, without seeing nobody else. Animals are a bit more difficult to spot than in Selous Game Reserve and landscape is in general less beautiful, but we would stay there again if we'd repeat this trip, because the feeling of littleness in this enormous savanna is unique.
We've stayed in Jongomero Camp and once again, the experience was unbelievable. So exclusive, so calm.
At the en we knew that we couldn't have chosen better honeymoon destination.
See it by yourself here: https://youtu.be/tX-cdXK1kCY
P Nahar
AU
Visited:
July 2014
Reviewed: May 13, 2015
Email P Nahar | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Ruaha - if you want to avoid the crowd
The park is rather remote and we were flown in by Coastal Airways from Tarangire. The Kwihala Camp had 6 double-bedded tents and therefore had that personal touch from our hostess Sandra and her staff. The facilities at the camp were superb with great food and wine.
Our guides, Lorenzo and Leverd were full of enthusiasm and were not hesitant to go that extra mile whenever needed. The camp had a few vehicles and we were lucky enough to get a vehicle for just 2 of us most of the time. The vehicles are side-open (top-covered) which have their pros and cons – great for general wildlife viewing but rather restrictive to watch and photographs birds in flight. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pravin_nahar/15493381299/in/album-72157649073470005/)
We were greeted with a superb sunset
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near the Ruaha river on the day of our arrival.The usual arrays of wildlife and birds will keep you interested. We had some close (but safe) encounters with elephants.
The highlight of the trip was to watch a pride of 1 lion (named Grumpy by the locals) and 11 lionesses. The pride was feeding on an elephant died naturally a few days before our arrival. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pravin_nahar/15493869208/in/album-72157649073470005/)
There were 3 young brothers who, being evicted from this pride, were trying to sneak in to have a bite or two. Their encounter with Grumpy (the leader) was something of a life-time experience for us – he managed to chase them (the 3 brothers) away one by one, making sure his pride is well looked after. The role of the lion (even though he doesn’t take part in hunting) in the pride was very obvious!!
In simple words, if you want a safari experience minus the crowd, visit Ruaha.
For my photos please copy and paste the link in your browser: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pravin_nahar/sets/72157649073470005
wildlifepictures.se
SE
Visited:
December 2011
Reviewed: May 3, 2015
65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Hot and lots of Tzetze flies but still I love the place. It´s really wild.
Phil
US
Visited:
May 2015
Reviewed: May 1, 2015
20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Had a great time camping in the bush
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the next morning in a tree over our camp), hippos, black-backed jackals, banded and lesser mongoose, and lots of birds (2 spotted eagle owls, several bustards, lilac-breasted rollers and European rollers, shrikes, buffalo-weavers, white-headed vultures, fish eagles, brown-hooded kingfishers, pied kingfishers, lots of Franklins and other quail, guinea fowl, red-billed hornbills, ground hornbills, hammerkops, among others). If you go with a tour guide, you're liable to see even more, since they communicate with each other by radio to learn where all the key animals are (I went with a couple local Tanzanians).April isn't the most popular time to visit - there's more rain and more vegetation, which decreases visibility on safaris, but we had very little rain, still saw a good sampling of wildlife, and had the added benefit of the park being practically empty.
Justin
CA
Visited:
December 2014
Reviewed: Apr 28, 2015
Email Justin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This is probably my favourite park of all. The bush vibe is intense!! I absolutely love this park! We stayed in the old bandas and had to be careful at night after a very close call with a hippo passing just by us. There are no fences between the campsite and the savannah and we could hear the lions within a hundred metres of us at night roaring. Elephants passed right by at night. The game spotting was insane. We saw cheetahs, countless lions, and way too many other amazing sightings to list. This park is amazing.