One of Tanzania’s most exciting dry season destinations, Ruaha National Park has a wild and thrilling atmosphere emanating from its unrestricted wilderness. Offering great action and a range of experiences, the prolific game and predators here will ensure you don’t want to leave this exhilarating park and you are sure to have a fantastic safari experience.

A vast tract of semi-arid bush, this rugged land is in the heart of Tanzania, taking fewer tourists than Selous, or any parks on the Northern Circuit. With just a small percentage of the park visited on the normal tourist trails, a good guide can mean the difference between a good safari and an unbeatable one, taking you into remote and unexplored areas. Being in a transition zone where the southern and eastern species of flora and fauna combine creates a huge variety of landscapes, plants and animals. Miombo woodlands, similar to those in Zambia, give way to open savannah, similar to that of Kenya, for which much of Tanzania is renowned. 

The park is 10,300 square kilometres and is part of a much larger series of conjoined wildlife areas, forming a massive 50,000 square kilometres overall. Ruaha is bordered by its lifeblood, the great Ruaha River which floods with heavy torrents of water in the rains, but nearly dries up, leaving essential pools of water in the dry seasons. The river is a magnet for big predators and makes a great hunting ground. There are fantastic predators here, with lions on the shores of the river, cheetah on the open plains and leopard, although as elusive as ever, in quite substantial numbers.

This is an important area for wild dog; however sightings of hyena and jackal are more common. Here you will find the largest population of elephant in Tanzania and they can be found throughout the park, as well as buffalo. Due to the mix of species from the east and the south, you might see Grant’s gazelle and greater and lesser kudu in the same areas as eastern species, such as zebra, giraffe, impala and defassa waterbuck. The birding here is prolific, with over 500 species counted, with an abundance of raptors, vultures and hornbills and lots of water birds. March is a good time for this as the migrants come to the river, especially the sooty falcon from the Sahara Desert and rare Eleanor’s falcon from the Mediterranean.

Activities here include walking safaris, game drives and bird watching to rival Selous – just with no boat safaris. Accommodation includes the beautifully peaceful and wild Jongomero Camp, with just 8 tented suites. There are few lodges here, each with its own unique selling points, so get in touch to find out more information on the options available.