Safari in Ruaha

We've just got back to Iringa from our Safari, and I can safely say that it has been my highlight of the trip so far. We set off on Tuesday morning, after a bit of an uncertain start involving a broken Land Rover and comfusion over pick-up times. But we were soon on the bumpy road heading to Ruaha National Park, a ride of about 3 hours.

The park itself is huge - over 10,000 square kilometers - all protected land comprised of savannah and woodland. We are in the height of the dry season at the moment, so the 'great' Ruaha river running through the park was more of a trickle in a dusty river-bed than a raging torrent - but apprently this makes animal spotting even easier, due to the fact that animals have fewer options of where to find water. We stayed in 'bandas' which are essentially metal huts with beds inside, perfectly fine for us, although they had a tendancy to get a bit warm during the day (much like sitting in a raging infreno). We certainly weren't disappointed with the animals we encountered...

Our guide, Essau, took us out on two game drives per day, usually early in the morning and then later in the afternoon. on our first day, we saw Giraffe, Elephants, Hippos and even a Leopard - which apparently is quite a rare find. The animals are amazing to see up close - the most common of which in Ruaha is the Impala, which is like a small Gazelle. Elephants and Giraffe are fairly abundant too, along with small rabbit-like creatures called Hyrax, which sun themselves on rocks in the mornings. Some of the most amazing sights were the Lions. We saw quite a few during our four day trip, including a pride which had just killed and eaten a Giraffe - the carcass of which was laying nearby, surrounded by Jackals and Vultures. There were loads of Baboons around, as well as banded mongoose (mongeese? mongooses?) Kudus, Hippos, Zebra. We also had a few sightings of Dik-diks, which look like miniature Gazelle, and are only about 40cm high, even when fully grown. Brilliant.

The bird life in Ruaha is also incredible. Forget regular Starlings - when you're faced with a bright blue and purple 'Superb Starling', England's selection of birds starts to pale in comparison. We saw storks, Guinea Fowl, Hornbills (Like Zazu from the Lion King), Eagles and miniature doves (all animals seem much more interesting when in miniature form).

We had a couple of close encounters when a Giraffe and Elephant wandered into our camp (see photo) as well as the last night, when we found a giant cockroach in our room, along with a sinister looking spider and several massive lion ants. After a lot of fuss, and being laughed at by some locals, we employed a ranger to get rid of them.

There's so much to write about from the Safari that I haven't really done it justice from what's written above. I've put up a few photos, but took about a million, so will have trawl through them when I get back and pick out the best ones. We are staying in Iringa for a couple of days, before getting on the bus back to Dar Es Salaam and then heading to Zanzibar! Hope to update again soon...

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