Ruaha Reviews – Page 7 – Reviews 61-64 of 64

Câthy –

NL

Visited: June 2012 Reviewed: Sep 10, 2012

20-35 years of age

Amazing experience

Overall rating

5/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

I've lived in Iringa town, just a 2 hour drive from Ruaha National Park and I've been to Ruaha multiple times. You can stay in a luxerious campsite or go for the Government Bandas, just 20 US dollars a night. It's basic and you need to bring your own food, but there is a decent toilet, shower, nets and some bandas where you can chill and drink a nice Tanzanian beer with a view over Ruaha River, and if you are lucky, some elephants. There is no fence, so during the night you can expect animal visitors, but there is an armed guard. Close to the bandas there is a campsite too, where you can camp with your tent at your own risk, since there is no fence too.
The scenery is beautiful, with hills and so much variety. The park has over 10,000 elephants, so it's easy to spot them, esp. in the dry season. Hippos, impalas and girafes are easy to spot too. If you are lucky you can spot lions and cheetas. In the wet some of the roads are not accesable, but the scenery is beautiful; so much green and it's a great season for watching exotic birds. If you are going with your own transport you can 'hire' a guide in the park or you can arrange a driver/guide in Iringa town. There is a couple organisations who arrange safaris.
I would recommend this park to everyone, although I hope it will maintain quiet with tourists now, so you really have the feeling you are alone in the park like you have now.

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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.

Overall rating

5/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

Ruaha is my favorite Tanzanian national park due to its fairly remote location and the spectacular landscape. An incredible variety of wildlife and some very well-trained outfits operating there. Ruaha's remote location and massive area, two of the things that are most attractive, are also its main vulnerabilities. I had made many visits to the park when I lived in the area from 2005-2008 and was concerned when I returned earlier this year because of all of the accelerated poaching that's gone on in the area over the last several years. Ruaha's remote location and massive area, two of the things that are most attractive, are also its main vulnerabilities. The quality of safaris for guests however, remains mostly unchanged in my opinion. Most of the game viewing tracks are in a relatively small portion of the park that is well-protected. Having heard so much about how hard the park has been hit, I was surprised at the abundance of wildlife (this is of course not to minimize 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.

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P Nahar –

AU

Visited: June 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

Overall rating

4/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

Even though it is the largest National Park in Tanzania, it does not carry the same touristy tag as Serengeti. This was exactly why we chose this park during our first visit to Tanzania in June 2014.
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 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

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Sami –

FI

Visited: January 2011 Reviewed: Jul 11, 2011

Email Sami | 20-35 years of age

Superb safari in Ruaha NP

Overall rating

5/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

Me and two of my friends started our three day, three night safari by flying in to Ruaha Mwakusi airstrip. From there we were picked up by our guides and headed out to the wild. We had excellent guide crew, they had wide knowledge of animals and plants and were really nice company for us. Also the bush lunches they served us were really tasty.

Ruaha is full of animals, already during the first hours of the first day we saw huge amount of them, including lions and leopard. And the same continued the following days, possibly the biggest highlight was watching pack of four cheetah to stalk their prey for few hours. Overall we counted that we saw something like thirty different mammals, and at least as many birds. Scenery of the park was very nice, there was a lot of variety and not just flat plans. It was also not crowded at all there, we perhaps saw one or two other cars there, so we were pretty much on our own all the time.

We stayed at the Mdonya Old River camp, which is open area where animals can (and will) roam freely. We enjoyed listening to the nightly noises around our tents, we preferred that over lodge accommodation. Everything worked smoothly in the camp, and the dinners they made us were of highest quality. Exchanging experiences of the day at campfire with other travelers was nice ending for a day.

I can fully recommend Ruaha for your safari destination, you will enjoy the peace you have compared to the other crowded parks and all it has to offer. One of us has been in many parks in Africa before, and he considered it possibly the best experience he has had so far. I can easily believe him.