Covering an area of over 20,000 km² Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park is the biggest national park in the whole of East Africa and is among the popular national parks in Tanzania where you can enjoy a unique Tanzania Safari Holiday with breathtaking views while in the comfort of a closed or open safari vehicle as you watch the animals.
Ruaha Location makes it part of the destinations along the Tanzania Southern Safari Circuit, however because of its inaccessibility it receives few number of tourists compared to the Selous Game Reserve and also less than other corresponding Northern circuit parks. What makes this distant trip worth your while is the scattered baobab hills, the wild scenery, the magnificent wildlife and rocky escarpments. Ruaha wildlife safaris are well endowed with mind-blowing concentrations of predators with one out of the four cheetah population found within East Africa, 10% of the entire lion population in the world, and is also holds the 3rd biggest population of wild dogs worldwide, in addition to other animals.
History of Ruaha National Park
The word “Ruaha” comes from the word “Ruvaha”, in the local Hehe language that means “river”. The park is a component of the larger over 45,000 square kilometer Kizigo-Rungwa-Muesi ecological system.
The history of this park goes back to 1910, a time when the Germans first gazette it and called it Saba Game reserve, a name that was later in 1964 altered by the British to Rungwa Game Reserve. The Southern part of the reserve was in 1964 declared the Ruaha National park and later a small part of the Great Ruaha River which was the Southeastern portion was amalgamated within the Ruaha Park in 1974. The Usangu game reserve together with different significant wetlands found within the Usangu basin was incorporated into this park in 2008, therefore, making Ruaha Tanzania’s and East Africa’s biggest park with a coverage of around 20,226km².
What is the best time to visit Ruaha
Traditionally Ruaha is a dry season park whose favors game viewing gets increasingly better as you get to the end of the dry season since the rivers and waterholes become dry and the wildlife centers around the few remaining water sources. A safari in Ruaha is just like a Selous trip, it is secluded with almost no one in sight during your safari. The park has pockets where wildlife gatherings are perfect all year round. June is the breeding season for the Greater Kudu male gender thus they are seen frequently.
The best time for birding, is in the rainy months of January to April with wild flowers and the lush landscape and from December all the way to March.
Things to do in Ruaha National
Game driving: this is the major daytime activity on a Ruaha safari tour. These are conducted either in the early morning or in the evening; however, Tours in the night time are prohibited.
Walking Safaris: there are both short and extended walking safaris in the Ruaha wilderness, although a few of the Ruaha camps here have not to organize walking safaris as a result of the increasing elephant numbers. Nonetheless, African Safari and Tours will help you organize a memorable walking expedition as we have very highly skilled guides to lead you on this expedition.
Hot Air Balloon excursions: this are conducted very early in the morning abd will give you an aerial view of the park. Because of the limited number of people per ride, we highly recommend our clients to the booth with us at least 3 months earlier to guarantee availability
Bird watching tours: with our team of expert birding guides e organize a variety of bird watching tours during which devoted birders can spot as many as close to one hundred species
Bush meals: within the Ruaha wilderness, you can enjoy a variety of meals ranging from bus dinners, lunches, breakfasts and picnics.
Fly camping tours: The sole camp here that performs fly camping tours with memorable nights beneath the stars is Jongomero camp.
