We have struggled to see leopards on recent safaris despite the tracking skills of our excellent guide so are amazed when we get to Ruaha National Park in Central Tanzania to see seven in our first two days. We chose Ruaha as it is less crowded than the more well known parks to the North and also because of a personal recommendation of the excellent Nomad Safaris. We are staying for five nights at Nomad's Kigelia Camp, a six tent camp beside the Ifiguru sand river, close to the Mwagusi sand river. The local scenery is stunning with baobab forests, rolling landscape and dry grasses and bushes.
Ruaha is one of the biggest parks in Africa and is situated in the transition zone between Southern and Eastern Africa's flora and fauna. This gives rise to a great variety of birds, plants and animals. The park is centred around the Ruaha river. Unfortunately damming for rice irrigation upstream has greatly reduced the flow which is having a knock on effect on the environment in the park. Fortunately there is still enough water for the hippos to wallow in and animals to drink.
African Wild Dogs
Bar tent and dining area
"We must hurry", said Raphael, as he meets us at the airstrip. "A couple of wild dogs have been spotted under a tree nearby". Since no dogs have been seen for some time this is a big deal and soon we are watching a couple lounging under a Baobab no doubt contemplating what they are going to hunt for supper. We then drive slowly on to the camp stopping to watch game and birds on the way as well as taking in the spectacular landscape. Kigelia Camp is named after the large Sausage Tree that stands near the bar tent. The six guest tents are very well spread out and much fancier than we are used to with a big bedroom, bathroom/dressing room and outdoor shower. Mesh sides give a great view of the bush with curtains provide privacy at night. Staff escort you to and from the tents at night just in case you bump into a lion or elephant! In fact one met a leopard as he was returning from escorting us - fortunately without incident! The bar and dining areas are modern and comfortable and the tables are moved around at night to provide different settings. Best of all was the friendliness of the staff. We were very impressed by the efforts that Nomad goes to train and look after their team.
Elephant under an Acacia, Leopard in the long grass
Lioness, Jackal, Zebra
We are soon back into the routine of safari. Wake up call with tea at 5.45 leaving the camp at 6am wrapped up in fleeces and blankets. Watch the sun rise in the bush, breakfast around 8.30 at a scenic spot under a tree then more driving and back around 12 to freshen up before lunch. Then a rest and off again around 4pm with a sundowner at about 6.15pm and back into camp after dark at 7pm.
On our first evening we spot a leopard by the road in the dark as we are coming home. Then next morning Raphael sees a tail moving behind some trees and out comes a mother leopard with two one year old cubs. They haven't been seen for about a year so very exciting. We watch as they come out of the bush, cross the road and then head back off into the undergrowth. An exciting 10 or 15 minutes.
In Ruaha we drive for stretches without seeing anything and then come across plains game - impala, dik dik, giraffe, eland, zebra and some that I have never seen before like the lesser Kudu and Oribi. Red-billed hornbill, guinea fowl and collared doves are everywhere but we see some other fabulous waterbirds, eagles and owls. On day two we find a big group of 15 lion including three big males, females and cubs and we also find lion in smaller groups. In the late afternoon we watch a huge herd of elephant - in fact 4 or 5 separate groups, digging for water in the sandy bed of the Ruaha river, as we sip a cool drink under a big tree on the bank.
Pearl-spotted owlet, Red-billed Hornbill, Giant Eagle Owl
Elephants digging for water, early morning walk in the bush
Next morning we head out from camp on foot. The Tanzanian Park Authority (TANAPA) sets strict safety standards so we have an armed scout from Nomad up front, our guide, us and an armed Parks Ranger bringing up the rear. In fact the walk is more about nature than wild animals - we see one giraffe and an antelope in the distance but spend a lot of time learning about trees, grasses, herbs, insects and birds. A honey guide follows us for much of the walk, flitting from tree to tree hoping to lead us to a bees nest where it might get a share of the honeycomb. After two hours, just as it is getting hot, we reach our vehicle under a tree with another to take our scout and ranger back to camp.
The guides in the park help each other out via phone calls and the camp radios. Raphael finds out that a leopard has just killed a big impala close to where we have been walking. We leap into the vehicle and arrive to find a female leopard standing over a big, dead, impala. With great effort she drags the body into a ditch, partially hidden by trees and bushes. She takes a few bites from the impala's haunch and chews out some guts (ugh!) before retreating under the tree to guard her kill. I suspect that the large number of vehicles that have arrived by then have frightened her. We come back in the afternoon and not much has changed. The next morning she is still there - surprisingly the lions and hyenas have not attacked during the night, - and starts to eat a lot more of the corpse. After eating her fill she appears to try to cover up or bury some of the blood and gore, perhaps to hide the smell, before settling down for a snooze.
Leopard on a kill, resting after moving the body
Breakfast the next morning
Two more leopards, a mother and cub, have been spotted down near the Ruaha River. When we arrive the cub is up one tree and the mother under another, guarding an impala corpse that she has placed high in the branches. The cub tries to get back to its mother but is phased by the vehicles (3) in its way. A reminder that in our enthusiasm to experience nature in the wild we are also intruding on these beautiful creatures lives.
The Ruaha river is a great place to watch the wildlife, we watch fish eagles, stork, herons, kingfishers, and even a pair of African skimmers from the river bank. We also see the animals coming to drink - impala and kudu, elephant and giraffe, and one evening after dark a row of eight lions, tightly lined up and lapping up the water. Along the banks grow many palm trees and big acacias although sadly when the elephants strip the bark from acacias, wood-boring beatles get in and drill holes that weaken the trees and eventually they fall over and die.
Apart from the amazing lions on our night drive we also see lots of genets (not a cat but related to the mongoose), dik dik which can see well in the dark and are less vulnerable to eagles at night, bat eared foxes, jackal, and a bushbaby jumping around in a tree.
Leopard cub up a tree and looking for mum
Saddle-billed stork on the river, big group of hippos
Once you have watched the big animals on safari you start to get more interested in the little ones and the birds. We find a chameleon by the road. He scoots into the grass but then poses happily for us. Raphael spots another chameleon in a tree some way off the road. I don't know how! We are watching lions watching zebra when a whole family of mongoose come running across. I hadn't known that they stand up like meerkats to look around - a very comic sight. We had spotted a rock hyrax sitting on a pinnacle near the camp but on our last day it was there with a baby - very cute.
Chameleon, group of mongeese watching zebra, mother and baby hyrax
Three lionesses watching zebra and giraffe, tawny eagle taking flight
So a fantastic five days in a very beautiful part of Africa. Many thanks to our guide Raphael, camp boss Goodluck and all of the team that looked after us. I highly recommend Ruaha as somewhere a bit different and less crowded than the Serengeti or Ngororo Crater. Other guests were combining Ruaha with the Nyeri National Park (Selous) and the Rifigi River Delta but we had limited time and preferred to spend it getting to know one area a bit better. I could not get other great photos into this blog so have posted them here.
