Ruaha National Park is the largest in Tanzania, covering an area of more than 15,000 square kilometers in the Iringa Region. Many who visited this park at the right season, rate it as favorite anywhere in the continent. The name Ruaha owes to Great Ruaha river which flows along the eastern border. The Friends of Ruaha Society, a British bilateral aid program is funding a project on community based wildlife, a management plan for Ruaha ecosystem and a project to direct the benefits of tourism to the people who live around the park.
Ruaha National Park is is extremely interesting as it presents the transition zone where southern African and eastern African Species of flora and fauna overlap, therefore, it has unique variety of animals, birds and vegetation.
Main Vegetation in Ruaha National Park are Miombo woodland, acacia grassland and baobab trees. However, the park is very rich in big games. it is well-recognizable for the large herds of Elephant, Giraffe, Buffalo and Impala, and numerous Greater lesser Kudu as well as wild dogs, lions and leopard are also common. The Great Ruaha River, that border the park in the east, provide habitation for hippopotamus and crocodiles. Birds can be watched along the river banks too (the park has recorded more than 540 species of bird, which is one of the highest bird species diversity in East Africa).
The best time to visit is during the dry season (June- March) when roads are passable and game viewing around the river courses and waterholes become excellent. Providing opportunity for close range animals admiration. However, year round game viewing is possible; there are well defined network of game-viewing roads follows the Great Ruaha and its seasonal tributaries.
Walking Excursions in Ruaha Park
Ruaha National Park also offers the walking excursions; the walking trails are designed in consideration to various factors including age classes of the visitors. The trails vary in distance, which cover between 3 to 4 hours for short walks, and 2 to 3 days for longer walking excursions: Mostly for bird watching, see different plants and reptiles
Bird Watching Season
Best time for bird watching in Ruaha National Park: can be done throughout the year, but from October to April is preferable and exciting. it is when migratory and water birds are easily seen. From Ruaha is also possible to visit a
STONE AGE SITE ISIMILA, ISIMILA IRINGA
West of Iringa Town there is the famous Acheulean site of ISIMILA, Stone age sites in East Africa, where numerous bifacial tools, other stone artifacts and bones were eroded out of lacustrine (lake) deposits. It was once a shallow lake and now is a dried up riverbed, covered by pillars of limestone with great structures