Ruaha National Park

Back to Tanzania

Ruaha is Tanzania’s largest national park and one of its emptiest — a rugged southern wilderness of kopjes, sand rivers and ancient baobab forests where you can drive all day and meet no one. It is, for many of our most travelled guests, the finest pure-wilderness safari in East Africa.

Highlights

Lions rule here: an estimated tenth of all the lions left on earth live in the greater Ruaha ecosystem, in prides that can exceed twenty. The park sits at a remarkable crossroads where East and Southern African species overlap — greater and lesser kudu beside Grant’s gazelle, sable and roan antelope in the miombo woodland — and its wild dog sightings are among the continent’s most reliable.

Best Time to Visit

June to October, when the Great Ruaha River shrinks to pools and predators stake out the remaining water. The early green season, January to March, rewards the adventurous with newborn antelope, breeding birds and camps at their gentlest rates.

Where to Stay

A handful of small, owner-run luxury camps — never more than a dozen tents — keep Ruaha’s wilderness honest. We combine them with boat safaris in Nyerere on our Southern Tanzania Wild Luxury itinerary.

Craving the wild south? Start with our Tanzania overview and tell us your dates.