Skip to content
TANZURI
The braided Great Ruaha River with sandbanks, winding through Ruaha National Park

Southern Circuit

Ruaha National Park

Remote, rugged and full of big cats and elephants.

Size
Approximately 20,000 km², making it one of Tanzania’s largest national parks
Altitude
Approximately 750–1,900 m
Established
1964, and greatly enlarged in 2008
Best for
Predators, kudu, baobab landscapes and true remoteness

Covering roughly 20,000 km² in central-southern Tanzania, Ruaha lies where eastern and southern African habitats meet. As a result, it is home to species from both — including greater and lesser kudu, sable and roan antelope — alongside large numbers of elephants.

The park is known for its predators. Lion prides can be large, leopards are regularly seen, and cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs are also present. The Great Ruaha River is the lifeline of the park, and in the dry season wildlife gathers along its banks and sand beds.

Because of its remoteness, Ruaha sees only a fraction of the visitors of the northern parks. Days here feel unhurried and personal, with game drives and walking safaris in a rugged landscape of rocky hills, baobabs and open plains.

An African elephant walking through green grass in Tarangire National Park
A young leopard resting in the fork of a tree in Serengeti National Park
A dark-maned male lion sitting in golden grass in Serengeti National Park

Highlights

  • Large elephant populations and excellent predator viewing
  • A mix of eastern and southern African species, including greater and lesser kudu
  • The Great Ruaha River, especially rewarding in the dry season
  • Very few vehicles and a real sense of wilderness
  • Walking safaris with experienced guides (where permitted)
  • Dramatic baobab-dotted landscapes

Things to do

  • Game drives
  • Guided walking safaris
  • Fly-camping with selected camps
  • Photography-focused days along the river
  • Birdwatching

Wildlife you might see

Wildlife is wild — these are the species people hope for here, never a promise.

  • Lion, in prides that can be unusually large (commonly seen, but never guaranteed)
  • Leopard, regularly seen along the river and in the rocky hills
  • African elephant in large numbers
  • Greater and lesser kudu — Ruaha is one of the best places in East Africa for both
  • Sable and roan antelope in the miombo woodland (uncommon and localised)
  • African wild dog and spotted hyena
  • Cheetah on the open plains
  • Hippo and crocodile in the Great Ruaha River, with rich dry-country birdlife along its banks

Planning your visit

Best time to go
The dry season, roughly June to October, is the best time for game viewing, with wildlife concentrated along the river. Some camps close during the long rains (roughly April to May); the green season is lush and good for birds.
Getting there
Most visitors fly by light aircraft from Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Arusha or Nyerere to airstrips inside the park. By road, the park is usually reached via the town of Iringa, several hours’ drive away.
Good to know
  • Ruaha combines well with Nyerere for a full southern safari, with a light-aircraft connection between the two.
  • The dry season can be hot during the day and cool at night.
  • Light-aircraft luggage limits (around 15 kg in soft bags) usually apply.
  • Tsetse flies can be present in wooded areas; neutral-coloured clothing helps.

What to see here

A dark-maned male lion sitting in golden grass in Serengeti National ParkWildlife

The Big Five

The Big Five are the African lion, leopard, elephant, Cape buffalo and rhinoceros. Tanzania is one of the few countries where all five can be seen, though they are not evenly spread and black rhino in particular are scarce. Seeing four of the five on a well-planned northern safari is realistic; seeing all five is possible but never guaranteed.

A visitor following an armed park ranger on foot along a bush path during a walking safari in KataviAdventure

Walking Safaris

A walking safari changes the scale of everything. Instead of covering ground, you slow down to tracks, dung, birdsong and the smell of crushed leaves, guided by a professional walking guide accompanied by an armed ranger as park rules require. It is about understanding rather than ticking off big animals.

A huge bare-branched baobab standing beside a track in Tarangire National ParkLandscapes

Baobabs & Landscapes

Tanzania’s landscapes are as memorable as its wildlife: baobab-studded valleys, granite kopjes rising from open plains, rift escarpments, montane forest and a long, palm-lined coast. For photographers especially, the country offers scenery that stands on its own without an animal in the frame.

Journeys that visit Ruaha National Park

A Masai giraffe and its calf on a lake shore in the Selous (Nyerere National Park), with hills beyond8 days · 7 nights

Southern Tanzania Wilderness

Boat, walking and game-drive safaris in Nyerere and Ruaha, far from the crowds

Nyerere National Park · Ruaha National Park

PrivateView itinerary

Also in the Southern Circuit

A Masai giraffe and its calf on a lake shore in the Selous (Nyerere National Park), with hills beyond

Southern Circuit

Nyerere National Park

Boat safaris on the Rufiji River in one of Africa’s great wildernesses.

Grass and scattered acacia scrub on the Mkata floodplain of Mikumi National Park, with blue hills on the horizon

Southern Circuit

Mikumi National Park

The open floodplain park that makes a real safari possible in just a couple of days.

View from a rocky ledge in the Udzungwa Mountains out over forest and the farmland of the valley far below

Southern Circuit

Udzungwa Mountains National Park

Eastern Arc rainforest, tall waterfalls and primates found nowhere else on earth.