Tanzania’s largest park, and almost nobody in it
Ruaha is the largest national park in Tanzania and one of the largest in Africa, and it receives a small fraction of the visitors the northern circuit does. It holds an unusually large lion population, both greater and lesser kudu, and a landscape of baobab, rocky hills and the Great Ruaha river that feels considerably wilder than anything up north.
The southern circuit trades convenience for solitude. Getting to Ruaha takes either a flight or a full day of driving, camps are fewer and more expensive per night, and the infrastructure is thinner. What you get in return is a park the size of a small country with a handful of camps in it.
This is the circuit for a second or third safari, or for a first time traveller who already knows they would rather have one lion sighting alone than six shared with twenty vehicles.
The Great Ruaha river is the organising feature of the park. In the dry months it reduces to a chain of pools, and everything comes to it. Elephant dig in the sand for water, and predators work the crossings. The sand rivers that feed it become game viewing routes in their own right.
Walking safaris are permitted in Ruaha with an armed ranger, and this is one of the better parks in the country for them, since the terrain is varied and the plains game is used to being approached on foot.
Seasons shift year to year. Treat these as a guide and confirm with your operator.
Dry season. Animals concentrate on the river. The classic Ruaha window.
Short rains, green, excellent birding, fewer visitors still.
Wet and green. Some camps close, roads can be difficult.
Long rains. Most camps close entirely.
Three nights. Fewer does not justify the cost of getting there.
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