Ruaha NP

Baobab forest in Ruaha NP

Read about our trip to Ruaha here
Our first national park in Tanzania!


Overview
A remote park about 3 hours from the town of Iringa, Ruaha offers the most "wilderness" experience in Tanzania we've come across so far.  Remote, and home to the 3 big cats, wild dogs and big herds of elephant, it also offers some of the more uncommon sightings of antelope like Sable and Roan.  For the official site, check out http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/ruaha.html

When did we go? 
Aug 2010, dry season

Ruaha entrance gate

Getting there
It's on the main Tanzam highway that connects Zambia with Dar es Salaam.  The park border is about 3 hours drive from the village of Iringa and is a bumpy, corrugated road through a really rural area.  From Dar, it would be a full day's travel to Iringa, and then overnight before heading to Ruaha. 

Roads in the park
The roads were mostly graded and good, so no major dramas in the dry. Did cross a river bed, which was fine as well. May have some problems during the rains because some of the road may actually have been washed away.

Lions overlooking the Ruaha river

Accommodation
There are a few lodges in the park situated mostly along the river. 
Also there are public bandas (cottages) which can be hired; they are away from the river, and there are different sizes.  We didn't take a look at them, but probably a good alternative if you don't want to camp, but don't want to fork out for the lodges.

Camping facilities
The public campsite is right on the Ruaha river and is probably the nicest ones we've encountered in Tanzania.  And because of the low volume of traffic, there was no one else for the 3 nights we were there. It's basically just a big clearing (no designated camping spots) and there is an ablution block with cold showers, which was very clean when we were there.  

The public campsite on the Ruaha river bank

Be careful leaving things out while game driving, there's a troupe of baboons that won't hesitate to investigate (and run off with) your stuff ;)  We also had elephants around our campsite at night.  There is another campsite a few kms away also along the river (the old public camp) but there is no water or ablution facilities.

Regarding the special campsites, (more expensive but private), you need to be fully geared with water etc. to camp.

Elephant

Other accommodation
There are a couple of lodges outside the border, but I don't know the details. Otherwise the nearest village is Iringa, some 3 hours away.

Wildlife viewing
We saw lion, elephant and buffalo of the big 5, but none of the other cats. As with all wildlife viewing it's hit and miss ;) It's pretty cool right along the river, but I think we would have probably expected a bit more in terms of it being the height of the dry season.  Other than the rivers though, the rest is woodland, hard to spot animals - but you'll be so busy trying to get rid of the tsetse flies you probably won't notice ;)

Male lion

Wildness factor
We only saw one vehicle in the 3 days we were there... by far the wildest and most remote park we've been.

Other logistics
Because they have the headquarters and even a school in the park, you should be able to get some basic help if needed, like a tyre change or basic mechanics.  They also have a basic shop with sodas and (cold when we were there) beer.

Giant kingfisher

TANAPA card needed? NO, but that was in 2010.  Having said that, I don't think the southern circuit is on TANAPA yet (Dec 2012), and when we enquired at the Exim bank in Iringa they had no idea what we were talking about. (It's now CRDB bank, but don't know if that changes much.)
Booking ahead? No, the volume is so low that I doubt you even need to book ahead for the bandas.
Update April 2014: According to others that have been there, cash is no longer accepted, but you can pay with debit or credit cards.  I'd still carry USD in case the card machine networks are down.  ($30pppd for foreigners and $30pppn for public campsite / $50 pppn for special campsites)

Giraffe

Our impression
How many times have we been there? 1
Would we go again? Yes, if the traveling time from Dar wasn't so long.  We did the trip when we were passing through from Zambia, and would give it another go if we were down that area, but for the 1,5 days it would take to travel there, we'd rather go up North ;)

Baobab sunset