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Ruaha National
Park Safaris
Ruaha National Park Over
View:
Ruaha
National Park covers an area of 12,950 sq. kms and is
Tanzania's second largest National Park. It forms the
core of a much larger (45,000 sq. kms) ecosystem
including
Rungwa and
Kisigo Game Reserves and although
it was established in 1910 as part of the Saba Game
Reserve it's present boundaries were demarcated as
recently as 1964.
The central spine of the Park is the watershed between
the
Nzombe and Ruaha rivers, with its dramatic
escarpment above which are large stretches of
miombo
woodland. Below this lie undulating plains with
vegetation ranging from dry bush country to treeless
grasslands, swamps and evergreen forests intersected by
the many sand rivers that are such a feature of this
area. Ruaha represents a transition zone where eastern
and southern species of flora and fauna overlap and in
all some 1,650 plant species and over 450 bird species
have been recorded within the park itself.
Ruaha National Park : Wildlife
Ruahais known for its large elephant and buffalo herds
and one of its principal attractions lies in being able
to see greater and lesser kudu as well as the majestic
sable and roan antelope within the same area. As well as
an abundance of lion, leopard and cheetah it is also
home to the increasingly rare African Hunting Dog. Ruaha is a great year round park due to its good all
weather road network. The South West area of Tanzania
where Ruahais located has the lowest rainfall in
Tanzania. June to November is driest with the focus of
wildlife viewing around the river courses and permanent
waterholes.
Ruaha National Park Activates and Special Interests
Bird watching, photography, walking safaris, and game
viewing from a vehicle (4 wheel drive).
The Great Ruaha River in Ruaha National Park.
(or Lyambangari as it is known in Kihehe, the local
language) and it's flood plains form only a small part
of the park in terms of area, but are not surprisingly
the most significant part of the park in terms of game
viewing. The river rises in the swamps to the west of
the park and more or less forms the southeastern
boundary, running from south west to north east. Just
outside the park it is joined from the north by the Mzombe River and eventually flows into the Rufiji
River a short distance above Stiegler's Gorge in the
Selous Game Reserve. The Ruaha
River is rarely full these days, apart from at the
height of the rains in April and in the driest months it
all but stops flowing, so that it resembles a wide sand
river. The banks of t Ruaha are lined in places with tall stands of acacia,
tamarind and other rive-rine forest.
Ruaha National Park Climate.
The average rainfall at Park headquarters is about 500mm
and usually comes between November and April. The
coolest month is normally July with a daytime max. of
30º C dropping to 15º C at night; temperatures then rise
until it rains in November or later. At that time
temperatures can reach 40º C in the day and only fall to
25º C at night.
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