Ruaha National Park derives its name from the Ruaha River, which flows along its southeastern border. The river provides permanent water in the park and, during the dry season, animal concentration along its banks is spectacular.
Ruaha National Park is about two to three hours drive from Iringa, a famous town on the Dar es Salaam to Zambia highway, and covers an area of 12, 950sq km, making it the second largest National Park in Tanzania, after Serengeti.
This unspoilt wilderness is rich in flora (about 1650 plant species) and fauna, and contains a wide variety of animals that includes Greater and Lesser Kudu, roan and sable antelopes, which are rarely seen in most other game parks especially in Northern Tanzania.
Ruaha National Park is famous for its herds of elephant and buffaloes.
The Ruaha River, which plays an important role in the ecosystem of the park, provides sanctuary to a large number of hippos and crocodiles. During the dry season the river attracts great quantities of game including lions, leopard, hunting or wild dog, impala, water buck, warthog, giraffe, and elands. In the plains ostriches, cheetahs and Grants Gazelles can be seen. The park is rich in bird life throughout the year, with over 370 bird species recorded. The best time for game viewing is during the dry season, from May to December. During the wet months from January to April some tracks become impassable.
The Selous Game Reserve, with an area of about
55,000 sq. km, is the largest well-watered wildlife sanctuary in Africa, and one
of the largest protected areas in the world. Its size is simply stunning, bigger
than Switzerland, uninhabited and little touched by human interference. It is
perhaps the most pristine wilderness still remaining in Africa, with a wide
variety of wildlife habitats, including open grasslands, Acacia and miombo
woodlands, swamps and riverine forests in the many tributaries of the mighty
Rufiji River which flows through the reserve. Due to its unique ecological
importance, it was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in
1982.
Its wildlife is spectacular, with some of its
mammal and reptile populations are the largest in Africa, namely buffaloes,
elephants, hippos, wild dogs and crocodiles.
Other wildlife include the wildebeest, impala,
water buck, zebra, eland, the greater kudu, sable antelopes, giraffe, baboon, the
vervet and blue monkeys, and the black and white colobus monkey which can be
seen in certain riverine forests moving from tree to tree in family
groups.
There is a large population of predators
including lions, leopards, cheetah and the spotted hyena, and about 440 species
of birds in the Selous, of both resident and migratory birds.
Named after Captain Frederick Courtney Selous, a
legendary 19th century naturalist, explorer and hunter, Selous Game Reserve was
founded in 1905. It is situated in the southern part Tanzania, bordered by
Mikumi National Park to the northwest and by Udzungwa Mountains National Park
and Kibasira Swamp to the west. The greater part of northern Selous is reserved
for photographic safaris, and it is one of the most beautiful and game rich
areas in the whole ecosystem.
The Selous wilderness meets the kind of dream visitors
have of Africa of the early European explorers like Dr. Livingstone and Henry
Stanley. The Reserve offers a wider variety of game viewing opportunities to the
visitor, including the thrilling experience of a foot safari through game
inhabited bushes in the company of an armed ranger. The many waterways in the
Reserve provide an excellent natural setting for boat safaris, both for game
viewing and bird watching. This is in addition to the game drives in 4X4 motor
vehicles which, combined with boat and walking safaris, offer an exciting and
richer game viewing itinerary unique to the Selous Game Reserve.
The best time to visit the Selous is from June
to October. During the long rains, between March and May, some parts of the
Selous become impassable and are temporarily closed for game
drives.
Forming the northern border of Africa's biggest game reserve, the Selous, Mikumi National Park is only three to four hours drive from Dar es Salaam, lying astride the main highway to Zambia, and en route to the National Parks of Ruaha and Udzungwa Mountains. The main feature of the park is the Mikumi flood plain, along with the mountain ranges that border the park on two sides.
Open grasslands dominate in the flood plain, eventually merging with the miombo woodland covering the lower hills. The park is rich in wildlife. And animals like buffaloes, hippos, baboons, sable antelopes, lions, wild dogs, wildebeests, zebras, impalas, giraffe, warthogs, and elephants which can easily be viewed all the year round. Reptiles including crocodiles, monitor lizards and pythons are also resident in the park.
Over 300 species of bird have been recorded some of which are Eurasian migrants.
Covering an area of 14,763 sq. km, Serengeti National Park is the largest National Park in Tanzania. The park is located some 320 km to the northwest of Arusha, lying in a high plateau between the Ngorongoro highlands and the Kenya/ Tanzania border, and extending almost to Lake Victoria to the west. Aptly named “endless plains” by the Maasai people, you immediately experience this vastness as you enter the southeastern plains of the park from Ngorongoro.
Declared a protected area in 1921 and gazetted as a National park in 1951, Serengeti is the oldest National Park in Tanzania and undoubtedly one of the most famous wildlife sanctuaries in the world. The principal features of the Serengeti are the short and long grass plains in the south and east, the acacia Savannah in the central areas, the hilly and densely wooded areas in the north and the extensive woodland in the west.
There is a variety of scenery, which include the plains, lakes, hills and the rock outcrops called kopjes. The main game drive areas in the Serengeti are the Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor, and Lobo or northern Serengeti. The Seronera valley in central Serengeti endowed with permanent surface water attract a large concentration of wildlife throughout the year. Common animals that can be seen here are lions, buffaloes, impalas, hippos, waterbucks, elephants, cheetahs and the leopard. From December, when the long rains start, to May, eastern Serengeti plains provide the best opportunities for game viewing as hundreds of thousands of the migratory animals are concentrated in this part attracted by the short palatable grass.
The Olduvai Gorge, popularly referred to as “The Cradle of Humankind”, is the site where in 1959 Dr. Louis Leakey discovered the skull of Zinjanthropus or “Nutcracker Man” believed to have lived 1.75 million years ago. Later reclassified as Australopithecus boisei, this creature had a massive skull though small brained (500 cc) with huge teeth. Several months later Dr. Leakey found another fossil hominid in the same layer of excavation, called Homo habilis or “handy man”, smaller than the “Nutcracker Man” but with a larger brain (600 cc) and capable of making simple stone tools.
A UNESCO protected World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is situated some 190 km. west of Arusha, between Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks. Covering approximately 8,288 square km, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area consists of the Ngorongoro Crater itself, the Olduvai Gorge and Ndutu, the Empakai crater and the Oldonyo Lengai Mountain. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment in multi-purpose land use where people (the Maasai), their livestock and wildlife coexist and share the same protected habitat.
Wild animals are protected as in the National Parks. The craters of Ngorongoro and Empakai are reserved exclusively for wildlife, while the rest of the Conservation Area is shared by wildlife, people and livestock. The Maasai, the main residents of Ngorongoro, are pastoralists who move widely with their herds of cattle, sheep, goat and donkeys in search of pasture and water. In recent years the Maasai have been encouraged to work on the land and supplement their traditional diet of milk, blood and meat. The Ngorongoro Crater, which is the central attraction in the area, is the largest Caldera in the world that has its walls intact. The Ngorongoro Crater floor, a sheer drop of 610 metres below the crater rim, has an area of 265 sq. km, with a diameter of 19 km. The sight of the Ngorongoro Crater is simply stunning.
“There is nothing with which to compare. It is one of the wonders of the world....” once wrote Professor Bernard Grzimek. The crater floor is covered with plains animals, including wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, elands, rhino, and a large predator population of lions, hyena and jackal which can all be viewed at close quarters. Cheetah and leopard can also be seen here. The rainy season is between November and May. The altitude at the crater rim is about 2286 metres above sea level, and temperatures can get quite chilly in the evening.
Tarangire National Park lies 120 km south of Arusha, along The Great North Road highway, and is very popular for day trips from the town. Tarangire offers a wide variety of wildlife in its area of 2,600 sq. km. As in all ecosystems, the vegetation and the types of animals you find are closely correlated. The principal features of the park are the flood plains and the grassland, mainly comprising of various types of acacia trees, and a few scattered baobabs, tamarind and the sausage trees. The Tarangire River, after which the park is named, provides the only permanent water for wildlife in the area. When the Maasai Steppes dry up with the end of the long rains in June, migratory animals return to the Tarangire River, making Tarangire National Park second only to Ngorongoro in the concentration of wildlife. This period stretches between June and November and it is the best season for game viewing in Tarangire.
The most common animals found in the park include zebras, wildebeest, lions, leopards, waterbucks, giraffe, elephants, gazelles, impala, gerenuk, lesser kudu and the beautiful fringe-eared oryx. You may be lucky to spot the tree-climbing python for which the park is famous, or the kudu and the roan antelope which are rare species in Northern Tanzania.
Over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the Park.
The Aberdares is an isolated volcanic range that forms the eastern wall of the rift valley, running roughly 100 km north-south between Nairobi and Thomson’s Falls. Soils are red and of volcanic origin, but rich in organic matter.
There are two main peaks, Ol Donyo Lesatima (3,999 metres) and Kinangop (3,906 metres) separated by a long saddle of Alpine moorland at over 3,000 metres. The topography is diverse with deep ravines that cut through the forested eastern and western slopes and there are many clear streams and waterfalls.
The Aberdares are an important water catchment area providing water to the Tana and Athi rivers and part of Central Rift and Northern drainage basins.
The National Park lies mainly above the tree line running along the 10,000 ft (3,048 metres) contour with some forest and scrub at lower altitude in the ‘salient’ area near Nyeri with the boundary running down to the 7,000 ft (2,296 metres) contour.
The unusual vegetation, rugged terrain, streams and waterfalls combine to create an area of great scenic beauty in the National Park.
Attractions:
Lesatima Peak, Kinangop Peak, waterfalls, walks in the moorlands, Twin Hills, Elephant Hills and Table Mountains. Second largest population of black rhinos in Salient and northern Aberdare. Queen Elizabeth II learned of her accession to the British throne at Treetops lodge. The Kimathi Hideout/Mau Mau caves.
Wildlife:
The park is home to most of the larger mammals, having a large population of black rhino. The park has endangered species including the rare bongo, giant forest hog, packs of the now very rare wild dogs and endemic mole-rate and mole shrew. Other game includes leopard, serval, endemic bird species, reptiles and insects.
Roads:
The park is readily accessible on tarmac from Nyeri and Naro Moru on the eastern side (160 km from Nairobi). A road crosses the park to connect with another from Naivasha and North Kinangop in the west. The main towns from which the park can be approached are Nyeri (154 km from Nairobi), Nyahururu (188 km from Nairobi) and Naivasha (87 km from Nairobi).
Airstrips:
Mweiga Airstrip is next to the park headquarters or Nyeri Airstrip is 12 km from Mweiga headquarters.
Where to Stay:
Mweiga and Nyeri both have a range of accommodation to suit all budgets, from basic campsites to upmarket lodges. In the Aberdares, there are two well appointed Forest Lodges, built around waterholes and saltlicks.
There are also campsites and huts for trekkers. These are separately administered and space should be booked and paid for in advance. On an organized trek or climb, hut accommodation or camping is usually included
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