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Ruaha National Park

Ruaha National Park: An Introduction

Located in the heart of the country, Ruaha is the 'other park' on the Southern circuit. Ruaha's relative inaccessibility has resulted in a park that takes far fewer tourists than the Selous and far fewer than any park in the Northern circuit. The rewards of travelling this far are a wild landscape with baobab studded hills and rocky escarpments playing host to excellent levels of game including superb predator concentrations, huge elephant and buffalo herds and a cross over of game from southern and Eastern Africa. Ruaha is certainly a wilder park than its neighbour the Selous, and ultimately has the better game viewing, albeit at the lack of any boating safaris. A huge plus of Ruaha is that there are very few lodges and yet the park is Tanzania's largest National Park. Overall an incredibly rewarding place to be on safari and although we consider Katavi to be Tanzania's best kept secret, Ruaha is certainly a more affordable contender.

Ruaha National Park: An overview of where to stay

There are a couple of great good top end camps in Ruaha with Jongomero leading the way for luxurious accommodation; a beautiful and very remote safari camp. Mwagusi is the oldest lodge in the park and when the owner Chris Fox is in camp, this place can provide a safari experience to knock you sideways. The less expensive Kwihala Camp is a very affordable luxury tented camp where as its sister camp Mdonya Old River is a great option for the adventurous with less of a budget. Ruaha River Lodge is by far the largest of camps in Ruaha in a superb location though is not up to the standard of the others.

Click here for detailed Ruaha lodge Reviews

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On Safari in Ruaha: Our View

We absolutely love this park! The game viewing here is some of the best you will find in the country with very few tourists and offers superb value. The park is a superb contrast to the Selous and gives visitors a much wilder experience to what they would have experienced elsewhere. What you can guarantee from Ruaha is great game in a truly wild and authentic environment; Ruaha is absolutely huge and yet still so very untouched. The lion viewing around the Mwagsui area is especially good and general predator concentrations across the park are better than many of the other parks in the country. Overall an absolutely superb and affordable place to be on safari!

Ruaha: When to go

Like the Selous, Ruaha is a classic dry season park. Game gets progressively better towards the end of the end of the season as the water holes and rivers dry up and the game concentrates around water. Like the Selous travelling to Ruaha out of season will virtually guarantee that you see no other people whilst on safari, and there are pockets in the park where the game concentrations are good at any time of the year. The birding from December through to March is exceptional.

Ruaha Safaris: What game will you see

Ruaha has all the predators on show, with very good lion, leopard and cheetah as well as wild dog and hyena. Buffalo and elephant herds are found throughout the park but it is the park's ability to throw up species from East and Southern Africa together that excites wildlife enthusiasts. It is not uncommon to see Grant's gazelle, greater and lesser kudu in the same area as East Africa's common species such as zebra, defassa waterbuck, impala and giraffe. Put in the hours and travel across the park to find sable, roan, hartebeest and over 500 species of bird!

Ruaha: What activities are on offer

The main activity in Ruaha is daytime game driving. Night safaris are not permitted. Due to the high numbers of elephant in Ruaha some camps have chosen not to operate walking safaris. Those that do (Kwihala, Jongomero and Kigelia) have some superb guides and can offer amazing walking safaris. Jongomero is the only camp to operate fly camping trips with adventurous nights spent out under the stars. Led by their head guide Molly, these are some of the best fly camping trips in Africa.

Ruaha Lodges

We have included all the lodges below ordered by our ranking, and by price. Clicking on any of the links will bring up more information; our detailed view of the lodge, video, photos, key facts etc.

Ranking

- Outstanding

- Very good

- Good

- Average

- Poor

Jongomero Camp
Jongomero is a beautiful 8 room tented camp in the remotest area of Ruaha. Without doubt the finest accommodation in Ruaha, Jongomero has a location that guarantees you will not see another vehicle whilst staying here. Another major plus of this camp is that it runs fly camping trips led by one of the best guides in the park.

$522pp

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Mwagusi Tented Lodge
Mwagusi is a uniquely authentic safari camp in the best game viewing section of Ruaha. Run by the legendary Chris Fox, Mwagusi looks over a sweeping bend in the Mwagusi sand river. Mwagusi's unique design is adventurous yet very high quality. It is a style of camp that we love, but one that doesn't get 5 paws due to the guides not being absolutely first class.

$570pp

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Kigelia
Kigelia is one of the newest camps in Ruaha and one that caters for the safari enthusiasts over the first timer. Designed in the style of the Serengeti's mobile camps, Kigelia has no running water and is the most adventurous style of lodge in the park. Standards of guiding here are superb and the camp has a very good location. A connoisseurs choice.

$680pp

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Mdonya Old River Camp
Mdonya is exceptional value, and for that reason alone gets one of our highest ratings. Yes, Jongomero or Mwagusi have better guiding and are the places to stay if you can afford them, but for value you just cannot beat Mdonya. Overall a great budget choice, and one that seems to always be in the thick of the game viewing action.

$370pp

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Kwihala Camp
Kwihala faces such strong competition from Mwagusi, Mdonya and Jongomero (all of which have been in the park substantially longer) that we feel obliged to rate Kwihala 3 paws. However, with an all inclusive rate Kwihala offers very good value and although the camp needs a slight upgrade, it is a worthy contender due to its good game viewing location.

$660pp

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Ruaha River Lodge
It seems somewhat harsh to only give Ruaha River lodge 2 paws but the lodge is much larger than the other choices here, and safaris may be up to 8 pax per vehicle. It is a good budget option but considering Mdonya is only a little more, we know where we would prefer to stay!

$345pp

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