East Africa’s largest national park & an abundant, remote wilderness
Ruaha National Park is the largest national park in Tanzania and East Africa, covering tens of thousands of square kilometres. However, the park only receives around 5% of the volume of tourists that the more well-known Serengeti receives (mostly due to its remote location), so you may well have this vast wilderness and its four-legged residents to yourself.
Ruaha National Park has a diverse and highly concentrated amount of wildlife inhabiting the undulating peaks and valleys. In places such as the areas around Ikuka Safari Camp, wildlife sightings of elephants, lions and other wildlife are almost guaranteed.
On a typical game drive around the park, you’re likely to meet ostriches, Grant’s gazelles, buffaloes, roan and sable antelope, wild dogs, greater and lesser kudus, cheetahs and a huge variety of bird species. At dusk, there are bat-eared foxes and jackals to look out for too.
Ruaha is home to Tanzania’s largest elephant population, with numbers around 12,000. There are also large prides of lions known for taking on large mammals, such as elephants, giraffes, hippos and buffalo.
Ruaha is also known for its dramatic landscapes, with peaks in the south and west towering up to 1,900 metres, rocky outcrops and savannah flats with surreal-shaped baobab trees; all of which make for stunning scenes at sunrise and sunset.
The Great Ruaha River is one of the main water sources in the park and therefore a hub of activity. Here, you’ll come across swimming hippos, wading birds and lurking crocodiles. There are also smaller ‘sand rivers’ which wind and connect around the park, sustaining animals in the wet season and acting as pathways to the shrinking waterholes in the dry season.
With far fewer visitors than Tanzania’s northern parks, a trip to Ruaha National Park is perfect for those looking to get off the beaten path. Large expanses of the park lie unexplored, providing a quiet and peaceful setting for the most authentic wildlife encounters you can expect to experience in Tanzania.
