The game viewing starts the minute the plane touches down, a giraffe races beside the airstrip, all legs and next, yet oddly elegant in its awkwardness.  A line of zebras parades across the runway in the giraffe’s wake.  In the distance beneath a bulbous baobab tree, a of the 10,000 Ruaha elephants, the largest population of any East African national park, form a protective huddle.

Second only to Katavi in its aura of wilderness, but far more accessible, Ruaha protects a vast track of the rugged, semi arid bush country that is central Tanzania.  Its life blood is the Ruaha River, which courses along the eastern boundary in a flooded torrent during the height of the rains, but dwindling thereafter to a scattering of precious pools.

A fine network of game viewing roads follows the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries, where, during the dry season, impala, waterbuck and antelopes risk their lives for a sip of life sustaining water.  And the risk is considerable, not only from the prides of 20 plus lion that lord over the savannah, but also from the cheetahs that stalk the open grasslands and the leopards who lurk in riverine thickets.  The hyena and African wild dog are also present in this area.

There is also a large concentration of birds, over 450 to watch.

The size of this national park is 3980 square miles, Tanzania’s second largest park, its location is in central Tanzania about 80 miles from Iringa.

To get there it is best to fly on the scheduled or charter flights from Dar es Salam, Selous, Serengeti, Arusha, Iringa and Mbeya.

What to do there, day walks, hiking safaris visit Stone Age ruins at Isimila near Iringa from Dar es Salam about ten hours.

Best time to visit for predators and large mammals is the dry season which is May through December, for bird watching, time frame is January to April.  The male greater Kudu is most visible in June, the breeding season.

Accommodations, the riverside Lodge, there are three dry season tented camps, and self catered bandas, and two campsites.  The Ruaha Hill top Lodge is another one.