Ruaha National Park is the largest national park in Tanzania. With its total size of about 20,226 square kilometres (7,809 sq mi), it is the largest park in Tanzania and East Africa. The name of the park is derived from the Great Ruaha River, which flows along its south-eastern margin and is the focus of game-viewing. The park can be reached by car on a dirt road from Iringa and there are two airstrips.

The game viewing starts the moment the plane touches down. A giraffe races beside the airstrip, all legs, and neck, yet oddly elegant in its awkwardness. A line of zebras parades across the runway in the giraffe’s wake. In the distance, beneath a bulbous baobab tree, a few representatives of Ruaha’s 10,000 elephants – the largest population of any East African national park, form a protective huddle around their young. Second only to Katavi in its aura of untrammelled wilderness, but far more accessible, Ruaha protects a vast tract of the rugged, semi-arid bush country that characterizes central Tanzania. Its lifeblood is the Great Ruaha River, which courses along the eastern boundary in a flooded torrent during the height of the rains, but dwindling thereafter to a scattering of precious pools surrounded by a blinding sweep of sand and rock.

A fine network of game-viewing roads follows the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries, where, during the dry season, impala, waterbuck, and other antelopes risk their life for a sip of life-sustaining water. And the risk is considerable: not only from the pride of 20-plus lions that lord over the savannah, but also from the cheetahs that stalk the open grassland and the leopards that lurk in tangled riverine thickets. This impressive array of large predators is boosted by both striped and spotted hyena, as well as several conspicuous packs of the highly endangered African wild dog.

For predators and large mammals, dry season (mid-May-December); bird-watching, lush scenery and wildflowers, wet season (January-April). The male greater kudu is most visible in June, the breeding season.

International flights into the country also arrive via Dar es Salaam (DAR) airport for visitors wondering how to get to Tanzania. DAR airport is located 18km south of Dar Es Salaam and a Tanzania visa and certain vaccinations may be required to enter the country. The drive to Ruaha from Dar es Salaam on the east coast takes about 10 hours on dusty, bumpy roads.

• Game Viewing
• Day Hike
• Bird Life
• Walking Safari
• Boat Cruise
• Bird Tours