Ruaha is another of Tanzania’s giant national parks at 13’000 square kilometres, the second biggest national park in the country and one of Tanzania’s best kept secrets. While still easy to get to by light aircraft, this is a remote wilderness area offering a raw and authentic safari experience and, is not visited by many which, only adds to the off the grid feel and experience. Often combined with Nyerere National Park, Ruaha is quite different topographically with rocky outcrops, steep gorges, and more open plains. Unlike Nyerere, Ruaha is a particularly dry national park with the Great Ruaha River offering most of the water available, which is a lifeline to the wildlife, and will be of particular interest on wildlife drives, although you will also enjoy wildlife along the dry riverbeds, plains and forested areas.

The wildlife of Ruaha is particularly interesting with over 550 species of birdlife including the pied, giant and woodland kingfisher, goliath heron, glossy ibis, pearl-spotted owls, the giant eagle owl, storks, hadada and is also home to almost all species of the African eagle. Plains wildlife includes large herds of elephant, impala, giraffe, zebra, bushbuck, eland, waterbuck, greater kudu, huge herds of buffalo and roan and sable antelope to name a few.