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Introducing Ruaha National Park
Report Presented by AfricanMecca Tanzania Resource Team.
Ruaha National Park - Contents Table
Ruaha, pronounced ru-ah-ha, is located in south-central Tanzania. The boundary is a national park and is cushioned by multiple ecosystems: to the north of the Ruaha National Park lies Rungwa, Kizigo and Muhesi Game Reserves and to the east are the Rubeho Mountains and Iringa Highlands. The term Ruaha, referring to the river that runs through it, actually comes from "Luvaha", which means water stream, which is more of a generic terminology traditionally used by the natives of the region: The Hehe people. The actual indigenous name for the Great Ruaha River is "Lyambangari", pronounced li-yam-bahn-gar-ee. Ruaha National park formally came into existence in 1964 when it was given National Park status, and its relationship with the ecosystem it shared with the northern game reserves forced an official boundary survey in 1973 to what it currently stands: 12,950 square kilometers.
Ruaha National Park, the second largest National Park after Serengeti, is in its pristine ecological condition: It is a less frequented park making any visitors experience, a unique one. Ruaha is a park where at every turn of one's head, nature is undertaking its course. It is at Ruaha where when walking across the new bridge upon just entering the park, our eyes turned to the right looking for crocodiles basking on the Ruaha River, when we saw a speeding fish eagle in motion, fixated on a fish on the shallow waters, swoop down and clutch its meal while we watched with shear amazement. With the splatter of the water and wiggling of the fish, causing ripples on the calm Ruaha River startled the crocodile making it slither back into the water. Just as that was an amazing experience, our ear picked up a "grunting-oink" sound, and we turned around and saw a spray of water made by a hippopotamus partially submerged in water. These are few among the many experiences of the Ruaha National Park.
There are two ways guests to our homeland can visit Ruaha National Park. One is through road safari from Dar-es-Salaam taking the A7 high, passing Mikumi National Park and Udzungwa Mountains National Park, and merging off to the west going through the beautiful and gorgeous Iringa Highlands. Once you pass Iringa town heading further southwest, you enter the pristine terrain of the Ruaha ecosystem. Alternative to driving, AfricanMecca can arrange for flight departures from Arusha and Dar-es-Salaam, with our accommodation guides meeting you on your arrival. The best months to visit the Ruaha National Park are between the months of mid-May to the end of December. The green season normally prompts visitors to fly down instead of driving.
Why Visit Ruaha National Park?
• Untouched and Pristine Nature: Ruaha is one of the less frequented national parks in Tanzania making the wildlife less adapted to humans. Ruaha is less frequented because: (a) it is not well known compared to its sister park, the Serengeti. (b) It is incorrectly assumed to be very far away and not accessible but it is easily accessible. (c) It is misconstrued to be a very expensive national park to visit but the pricing structure for park fees and accommodations are just a little over industry standards when compared to others in Tanzania. The above industry standard rates are understood by the value received from its remoteness and pristine environment.
• Personalized Wildlife Watching: Because Ruaha is expanding yearly; the chances of bumping into other vehicles that can startle an animal you may be already watching is limited, and we can say this from our personal experience.
• Lots To Discover: There are no access restrictions in the areas where the park authorities have formal tracks meaning a visitor can explore much of the park where they are permitted. In addition, the Tanzania park authorities are adding more routes by carefully monitoring the ecological impact thus ascertaining that the wildlife remains undisturbed as much as possible. There are plans to add up to 1500 kilometers of road networks.
• High Concentration Of Wildlife: Ruaha National Park benefits from the dispersal and migration of other wildlife from its ecosystem coming down from the northern game reserves of Kizigo and Rungwa, giving the park a huge boost in the concentration of wildlife. There are large numbers of Buffalos, Elephants, Kudus, Zebra, Giraffes, Lions, Impala's and Elands
• Increased Biodiversity: On any given day, Ruaha National Park has the potential to showcase a good number of biodiversities in just one-third of the park size. From our experience within the Msembe and Jongomeru area we discovered the Silver Back Jackal, Elephants that walked into our camp, Hippos that foraged around the camp at night, African hunting dogs that trotted past our vehicle, a pride of 18 lions that were hunting, and the superb Lesser and Greater Kudus seen at every southern section of the park. The vegetation of park also boasts Palm, Fig, Tamarind and Baobab trees that are not commonly seen in other parks. There are over 1600 plant species and over 370 bird species confirmed in the park.
• Preserved Vegetation: Ruaha ecosystem and its surrounding has seen not been faced with livestock grazing problems, which has helped the vegetation remain intact.
• Accommodation Fairly Priced: Accommodations in Ruaha National Park cater to all personalities making it a must visit park for any person visiting Tanzania. As stated earlier, the slightly increased costs is reflective of the value the park offers in terms of remoteness and exclusivity.
• Walking Safaris: Ruaha is one of the few national parks in Tanzania where walking safari is permitted when accompanied by an armed ranger. This liberty gives outdoors and nature enthusiasts an opportunity to receive an up close and person treatment of the offering in dense places where safari vehicles cannot penetrate.
Next section - Understanding Ruaha's wildlife and environment
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