Furaha in Ruaha (and Selous) Aug/Sept 2013

[ZaminOz]

Awesome @@stokeygirl

You've got some fantastic lion and leopard action shots there! What luck!

 

 

Edit.... I mean luck with the sightings, not the photos! I'm sure that's more skill than luck.

Edited September 23, 2013 by ZaminOz

[ZaminOz]

@@stokeygirl

Do you know what Kwihala's policy on children is? I have often thought that it was the kind of camp that would appeal to me, but it is often hard to find camps that are relaxed about young kids in camp.

Also do they use open vehicles there (ie Zambian style)?

[pault]

Great start to your trip. That's two excellent visits there already. Can't wait to get there next year - really can't.

 

While you are answering ZaminOz's question about the vehicles what is their policy on numbers in vehicles. At Old Mdonya it was "two tents per vehicle" with the back of the three rows reserved for the guide/spotter when he wanted an elevated view. Is it similar at Kwihala or do they deliberately use only two vehicles for all six tents so that everyone gets plenty of "Pietro/Marius/etc." time? Or what's the story? I saw you mention two Kwihala vehicles a couple of times and never three.

 

Also, they seem to spend a lot of time near the river and between there and those "Serengeti" plains.... that area. Is that true? Quite understandable if so, but did you ever had off really further afield? Just interested because, like you, I'm thinking of a kind of two-stop strategy for Ruaha if it can make sense. Not sure what the second stop would be yet but sounds like there are some great options.

 

Thanks!

Edited September 23, 2013 by pault

[stokeygirl]

The tsetses were in evidence I'm afraid.

It was the buffalo that had gone AWOL. Usually Ruaha has some pretty big herds that keep all the lions well fed, and I saw plenty on my last trip in June. But this time- not one single lonely bull, let alone a herd. Apparently the buffalos had joined up into a mega-herd of about 700 which had moved off along the Ruaha river to areas beyond the reach of game drives. We saw evidence of the herd, in the form of huge areas covered in buffalo poo, but no buffalo!

 

So the lions are more concentrating on other large prey like giraffe and elephants.

[stokeygirl]

@@ZaminOz - yes the vehicles are open but they do have canopies.

 

There's some info on children here-http://www.kwihala.com/index.php/rates.html

 

There was a family with a couple of young kids there when I was there, but she was a visiting tour operator so not sure if they might have been a special case.

 

I think @@africapurohit had Ruaha on their itinerary so probably knows more about this than me. I seem to remember he ditched Kwihala because they didn't do children's rates, but looking at the above rate list, it looks like they do if the child is sharing with 2 adults, but not if sharing with one.

 

I am guessing a private vehicle would be compulsory, but I think I read their rates for that are quite reasonable (I think I read $150 a day).

[ZaminOz]

Thanks @@stokeygirl. The private vehicle rate does sound quite reasonable.

[stokeygirl]

@pault I don't think that's true about Mdonya- I was there with my parents, so we were 2 tents, and we definitely had another couple in our vehicle for at least some of the time. Some of the Mdonya vehicles only have 2 rows of seats though, so then there will be max of 4.

 

Kwihala had 3 vehicles, but the camp was only full enough to be using all 3 for some of the time. Pietro wasn't guiding for much of the time as he was busy helping with a road building scheme with guides from other camps.

 

For some of the time we were 2 in my group, some of the time 3 (my other friend only joined for the last 3 days) but most of the time we had one other couple with us so we were 4 or 5. Two of their vehicles are Cruisers, the third, which we were in to start with, is a converted Defender. To be honest, the Defender was pretty cramped and the back row and also the seat behind the driver were pretty lacking in leg room so I can't see they'd put more than 4 in that vehicle- when my other friend arrived we were switched to the cruiser.

 

So I'm not really sure if they have a "policy". One family of 3 seemed to have their own vehicle for all 5 nights they were there.

[stokeygirl]

@@ZaminOz - there's someone on ST going for 10 nights later this month with a PV. @@africawild ??? It's a name starting in "africa"!!

[TonyQ]

This really sells Ruaha,

We wondered where to go after South Luangwa - this is very appealing!

More brilliant photos - I am really enjoying it

[stokeygirl]

@pault sorry, forgot to answer the bit about the areas.

 

It's hard to tell on game drives how far we were going as one often isn't going in a straight line! There are 2 rivers we were driving along- the Mwagusi river, which is a sand river in the dry season, and the Ruaha river. So we were covering quite a lot of ground as there's quite a long way along each river that you can go.

 

As for doing 2 camps, there are only about half a dozen camps inside the park- Kwihala, Mdonya, Kigelia, Mwagusi, Ruaha River Lodge and Jongomero. There's also the Flycatcher's camp but not sure if you can book that outside one of their own itineraries. Most of the camps cover the same general area, except Jongomero which is in its own separate area. So I think Jongomero is the only one really worth combining with one of the others. I understand the area around Jongomero is not as game rich. It was well known for walking until Moli left to set up Kichaka- not sure who they have got to replace him.

 

Mdonya is also a bit removed from the others, but we found ourselves mainly driving down to the Mwagusi/Ruaha rivers on long all day drives. The area round Mdonya is more wooded (and hence tsetse territory) so I think it's a mixture of tsetses and harder to spot game that drives them towards the more central areas.

 

Ruaha is a huge park, and probably only 5-10% of it is used by the camps, but outside that area there probably is a bit of a lack of roads for game drives even if you can get out there. However, it's some of these areas that Kichaka are going into. Moli has an idea that he wants to eventually have semi permanent mobile camps in some of these areas to use as bases for walking (sounds very South Luangwa to me!!). It's hard to find a decent map of Ruaha, but one of the areas he has been going is up to the Mzombe (I've also seen it spelt Njombe) river, which forms the border with Rungwa game reserve. He was even talking about getting canoes (not sure for which river). He was also talking about the Usangu swamps.

 

I think a combination of some time with Kichaka and some time at Kwihala would make an excellent trip (and that's what I'm doing next year!).

[stokeygirl]

There is a guy (Owen someone) who has been filming several documentaries about the lions in Ruaha- he is still out there filming, we saw him a few times. One of the documentaries is out but I also forget what it's called.

 

You may be right about the buffalo movement- but this year they have gone further than usual. The guides said it was unusual for the herds to be that far away.

 

I'm not sure how close we got to Ruaha River Lodge, but we definitely saw their vehicles so there was overlap in the areas they cover. As a 20+ room lodge it's never much appealed to me. But I do think that apart from Jongomero, all the other camps can access pretty much the same area.

[stokeygirl]

Moli's plans sound all exciting.

 

I was investigating the possibility of fly-camping along the Nzombe river a few years ago (2004 or 2005, I think). The advice I was given at that time by someone who had spent a few years in Ruaha was that it was a stunning area, with beautiful miombo woodlands, but as such, with a low density of game and high density of tsetses (good sable though).

 

It would be great if he managed to do something in the Usangu Flats, even if I understand that the area has been over-hunted in he past - but hopefully now wildlife has recovered.

 

I've heard it's good for dogs up there. In general though, low densities of game are probably a good thing for walking. The main areas of Ruaha have so many elephants. I've never found tsetses have bothered me anywhere near as much when walking as when in a vehicle.

 

I'm hoping to get some more info from him (inc some maps he is making) on the areas they are visiting. However, it seems like they've been quite overwhelmed with the level of interest they've had so they're probably pretty busy.

[Jochen]

Wow!

 

I just started reading now, about "Super Saturday".

 

Wow indeed.

 

Can I book you for my next trip, @@stokeygirl. Just as a good luck charm.

[COSMIC RHINO]

I am impressed cheetah kills are just about never seen

[stokeygirl]

I looked up the documentary- it's called Lion Battle Zone and the film maker was Owen Prumm.

 

@@TonyQ - I think if you liked South Luangwa, Ruaha has a lot of similarities.

 

@@Jochen - I'm not really that lucky. No dogs in Selous, for example.

[stokeygirl]

Jinx!

 

I haven't seen the documentary but I believe Grumpy features in it. I must find it and watch it- sure it must be on Youtube somewhere.

 

This quite interesting article about Ruaha was linked on the Ruaha Carnivore Project's website recently-

http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0910-hance-dickman-ruaha.html

[africapurohit]

@@stokeygirl great report and photos. Too much excitement to comment on! I will have to have a more detailed read later.

[kittykat23uk]

I looked up the documentary- it's called Lion Battle Zone and the film maker was Owen Prumm.

 

@@TonyQ - I think if you liked South Luangwa, Ruaha has a lot of similarities.

 

@@Jochen - I'm not really that lucky. No dogs in Selous, for example.

 

I think you used all your luck on the cats! Nice Serval as well I see!

[stokeygirl]

True. You win some, you lose some................

[africawild]

@@ZaminOz - there's someone on ST going for 10 nights later this month with a PV. @@africawild ??? It's a name starting in "africa"!!

Nope . I wish i could go 10 days to Ruaha !!!!

 

But i have to confess i am about to close an 8 nights trip to the area for next November ( 3 nts Selous , 5 nts Ruaha ) , so i am enjoying your report like a kid !!!!! I hope luck is on my side as with you.

 

Paco

[graceland]

Great start to your trip. That's two excellent visits there already. Can't wait to get there next year - really can't.

 

While you are answering ZaminOz's question about the vehicles what is their policy on numbers in vehicles. At Old Mdonya it was "two tents per vehicle" with the back of the three rows reserved for the guide/spotter when he wanted an elevated view. Is it similar at Kwihala or do they deliberately use only two vehicles for all six tents so that everyone gets plenty of "Pietro/Marius/etc." time? Or what's the story? I saw you mention two Kwihala vehicles a couple of times and never three.

 

Also, they seem to spend a lot of time near the river and between there and those "Serengeti" plains.... that area. Is that true? Quite understandable if so, but did you ever had off really further afield? Just interested because, like you, I'm thinking of a kind of two-stop strategy for Ruaha if it can make sense. Not sure what the second stop would be yet but sounds like there are some great options.

 

Thanks!

I'll slip in here quick and say to get "further afield" Kichake would be the ticket! We drove one day down to an area to visit a friend of Moli's filming lions and he was quite surprised at how so many of the lodges (all) seemed to be driving further out from their usual viewing areas. He was wondering about the amt. of game but obviously with @@stokeygirl's pics they are there!

 

We saw huge herds of buffalo but we were further east along the Ruaha river where it had unfortunately dried up rather quickly.

 

If you want to get the "second stop", I HIGHLY recommend Kichaka who will work with you on the areas you wish to explore. They've now added fly tents to their repertoire and can easily access more areas....which I will go into more detail with my Trip Report ~( before Xmas I promise )

 

And, no children under 16.

[stokeygirl]

@@africawild - OK not you then. I've trawled through ST and it's @@africaaddict going late Sept for 10 nights. He'll know the private vehicle costs.

 

@graceland I bet the bloke filming lions was Owen. There can't be more than one! Did he have a bit of a greying ponytail? Looking forward to the full report.

[graceland]

@@africawild - OK not you then. I've trawled through ST and it's @@africaaddict going late Sept for 10 nights. He'll know the private vehicle costs.

 

@graceland I bet the bloke filming lions was Owen. There can't be more than one! Did he have a bit of a greying ponytail? Looking forward to the full report.

Yes, Owen...we spent some time with him while fliming. Great guy. Knew where the lions were for sure!

Having not been to South Luangwa I can't compare the areas as you, but we truly were out in the wild ~ no one around for miles. Heaven

[africaaddict]

 

 

@@africawild - OK not you then. I've trawled through ST and it's @@africaaddict going late Sept for 10 nights. He'll know the private vehicle costs.

 

 

Correct Stokeygirl, in fact we leave in just over a days time, on Wednesday, first stop is 7 nights @ Selous Impala, followed by a mouth-watering 10 nights @ Kwihala with PV for both camps.

You're correct that Kwihala charge US$150 a day for a PV, which is quite reasonable.

 

So have been following this TR with great interest, your capture of the cheetah kill is certainly something to envy, well done!!

Let's hope the buffalo roam a little closer to camp, but with a PV, I'll certainly be out there looking!

I guess I'll catch up with your Impala report once we're back.

 

Cheers

Marc

Edited September 23, 2013 by africaaddict

[stokeygirl]

@@africaaddict - have a great trip, hope you love Kwihala as much as I do. Look forward to seeing your photos when you get back!