Ruaha National Park - Tanzania's best kept
secret!
Ruaha
National Park is Tanzania's second largest
national park occupying an area of approximately
10,300sqkms. The park lies west of Iringa town within
a greater ecosystem, five times larger, embracing
6 other protected areas, forming the largest
game protected area in Africa. Like Katavi,
Ruaha is another best-kept game viewing
secret of Tanzania offering abundant wildlife
and pristine wilderness.
Ruaha is a park where game viewing can begin the
moment the plane touches down. Wildlife in Ruaha
is concentrated along the great Ruaha River, the
park’s lifeblood. Waterbuck, impala and the
world’s most southerly Grant’s gazelle
risk their lives for a sip of water – the
shores of the Ruaha are a permanent hunting ground
for lion, leopard, jackal and hyena, and the rare
and endangered African Wild Dog are often seen on
safari . It is an excellent park
for predators. Lions are numerous, habituated
and prides are large in numbers.. Ungulates are
also in large numbers including some species not
common to the northern circuit such as greater kudu,
roan and sable.Ruaha’s 8,000 elephants are
recovering strongly from ivory poaching during the
1980s and remain the largest elephant population
in East Africa.
Ruaha is the only protected area in which
the flora and fauna of eastern and southern Africa
overlap, leading to a fascinating combination
of wildlife. Ruaha's vegetation is transitional
to southern miombo and eastern savannah consisting
of a wide variety of habitats such as riparian forest
along the watercourses, swamps, grassland and acacia
woodland. Baobabs are present in large numbers in
some parts of the park. Brachystegia woodland is
however the dominant vegetation. With walking
safaris available at the lodges, Ruaha
offers a true safari adventure
Itineraries in Ruaha
