Ruaha National Park

A few nights ago, I was laying in my tent on the banks of the Mdonya River in Ruaha National Park – the largest national park in Africa at 22,000 sq kms. The temperature was dropping quickly as the starry night sucked the heat off the baobab studded savanna. I drifted off to sleep thinking about the impala, kudu, leopard, elephant and buffalo we had seen on the way to this rustic little camp from the airstrip. A few hours later, I woke to the sound of crinkling dry baobab leaves – foot steps – something was approaching my tent. I sat up and saw a massive elephant towering over me. She was 10 feet away and looking right at me. We made eye contact for about 10 seconds. At first I was alarmed but I could tell she meant no harm. It was if she was saying “hello, welcome to my home, this is a special place, if you respect it I will respect you”. It was intense and calming at the same time. She slowly wandered off. I lay back down and shut my eyes with a smile and felt lucky to be in her beautiful home.

The next day I learned a buffalo had been killed next to camp. So we went to take a look just after breakfast. There was a pride of about 15 lions still feeding on this bull they brought down earlier that morning. These guys were pretty tame and the driver was able to get within 20 feet of the kill. The next few days I toured this amazing national park – a park that is on the southern circuit in Tanzania and therefore less frequently visited. Ruaha is a place not to be missed.