Day 29 - Ruaha National Park

Point of departure : Old Farmhouse (50km south of Iringa)

Point of arrival : Ruaha National Park

Accommodation: the rooftoptent - Ruaha National Park - www.tanzaniaparks.com or [email protected]

Km travelled today: 237km Cum: 6914km (gravel 171km cum 1 530km)

Countries so far: 5/16

Where to next? Iringa

Total number of photos taken: 60 (cum 1 1354)

After the wonderful breakfast of fruit smoothie, fresh fruit and yoghurt and scrambled eggs (R60 each - cheap again) we headed off towards Iringa and Ruaha National Park, to use up the two spare days we have created earlier in the week.

The Tanzam "Highway" is not all that we expected it to be.The combination of speed restrictions, village after village,never ending people on the move and the occasional pothole, you can never really get moving, and cannot average more than 60 to 70km an hour.Near Iringa there is also major road works with one way traffic systems which further delayed progress.Nevertheless, we got through Iringa and were on the road to Ruaha National Park (116km from Iringa) by about 11h30.

The road to Ruaha was mainly gravel, again passing through village after village and even here in these rural areas, of a higher standard than what we saw in Malawi. Although the houses were made of mud and thatch quite a few had satellite dishes.What really caught our attention was the number of beautifully maintained churches (at least six in about 50km).Other evidence of something more than a subsistence economy were the tyre dealers, motor bike repair shops and clothing stalls along the way.

Ruaha National Park is Tanzania's second largest park (after Selous) and covers 10 300 sqkm.About 20% of the park falls along the Great Ruaha River, which is thought to follow part of the Great Rift Valley system in Eastern Africa.The River (formally a perennial river) forms the lifeline of the park during the dry season.However since 1993, the flow of the river has been impacted by excessive use of water in the catchment areas and, as a result, this has had an impact on the ecology of the park.The problem is such that during the dry months (September to December) parts of the river dry up completely.Hopefully Government will take some action to reverse the situation.

It was during Germany's occupation of Tanzania (German East Africa) that part of the park was made into the Saba Game Reserve in 1910.During British occupation in 1946 this area was extended and renamed Rungwe Game Reserve.Finally in 1964 the southern portion was added and it was renamed Ruaha National Park and ten years later the south eastern portion was added to complete the boundaries as it is today.

The park boast over 12 000 elephants - the highest concentration of elephants in any park in Tanzania. Lion prides average 20.The park is known for its ungulates - Greater and Lesser Kudu, Roan and Sable, Eland, Grant's gazelle and others.

We arrived at the Ruaha Park, paid our 24 hour entrance fees and went out to check the camping/accommodation.One look at the guest house convinced us that camping was definitely the answer (even at US$30 per person for camping).We decided on a site right on the Great Ruaha River which was basic to say the least - no ablutions, no water and only a longdrop in a ramshackled thatch hut.However, being self sufficient we were able to set up camp with shower and were, to all intent and purposes camping wild, totally on our own.With the river and a beautiful moonlit night we were fairly early to bed.

We were introduced to the irritating (and a little painful) bite of what we now know was tsetse fly.We were not sure what these aggravating insects were but were concerned when we discovered they had been feeding on us.We have now established however, that despite the discomfort of the bites, they are harmless to humans.