Furaha in Ruaha (and Selous) Aug/Sept 2013

[SafariChick]

So now we're at the last afternoon, so just one more lion-fest.

 

Aw, these are beautiful @@stokeygirl - I am finally getting to reading your whole report. Such sweet cuddling kitties and beautiful light!

[SafariChick]

So now we're at the last afternoon, so just one more lion-fest.

 

Aw, these are beautiful @@stokeygirl - I am finally getting to reading your whole report. Such sweet cuddling kitties and beautiful light!

[SafariChick]

oops, sorry for the double post, @@Game Warden feel free to delete one if you like. Now finished the whole report, terrific! I think the croc/lion interraction was worth the whole Selous part though obviously there were other good sightings as well, and beautiful bird photos. Loved the Ruaha part. Every one of these great reports makes me feel I must head to THAT place next! If only I could clone myself (AND my bank account).

[Super LEEDS]

Great report, @@stokeygirl - the impala vs croc vs lion sequence is worthy of a newspaper article! Excellent luck

[Atravelynn]

I'm recovering from Super Saturday. I thought I recognized the name Moli. He has become popular with safaritalkers. I can see why. Did the male cheetahs have names? When I saw your shots of the cheetah racing after the impala I thought of the comment "You don't have to be faster than the cheetah, just faster than the other impala." How exciting and photos too!

 

Maybe you get to this--I'm only on page 1--how did Aug/Sept compare to June? Your # of days seems good for each location.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Atravelynn

[stokeygirl]

@Atravelynn Overall, I'd say June compared pretty well to Aug, given the advantages of it being cheaper and quieter (I had the camp to myself for 5 days!). I wouldn't even confidently say Aug was better in terms of game viewing. Yes, we saw a cheetah kill, but I saw a cheetah last time, it was just luck that this one was hungry!!

 

No the cheetahs didn't have names.

[twaffle]

 

No the cheetahs didn't have names.

 

[Atravelynn]

@Atravelynn Overall, I'd say June compared pretty well to Aug, given the advantages of it being cheaper and quieter (I had the camp to myself for 5 days!). I wouldn't even confidently say Aug was better in terms of game viewing. Yes, we saw a cheetah kill, but I saw a cheetah last time, it was just luck that this one was hungry!!

 

No the cheetahs didn't have names.

Thanks. In the second installment I read the part in your report about June and Aug comparing favorably. Interesting! The light was really lovely in so many of your photos. Since the cheetahs have no names at the moment, that is one more incentive to go--claiming the naming rights! I suppose that adorable serval was nameless as well.

 

Can you review your internal flights within Tanzania and did the camps book them or did you?

 

You have a very tantalizing report. Ruaha is one happening place! And I haven't even gotten to your time in Selous and Zanzibar yet.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Atravelynn

[stokeygirl]

Actually the serval did have a name, as it had become a bit of a regular sighting around camp. Pietro called her Nanda after his mother.

 

The internal flights- we used Safari Airlink on the way out. There are 2 flights to Ruaha from Dar, a Coastal one at 8:30 am and the SA one at 10:30. You used to be able to connect directly to Coastal from the old BA flight to Dar. When that route was cancelled, we switched to Kenya Airways via NBO, which lands at 9:35, so we were intending to connect straight to SA. Then the fire at NBO happened and we were concerned about that connection so I switched to Emirates landing the previous afternoon and stayed the night in Dar. As this was a late change, I think it was too late to switch back to the earlier Coastal flight.

 

I would probably prefer to fly Coastal given the choice. They have a bigger fleet of planes, so if anything goes wrong with one, it's less likely to cause disruption. Also, because more people fly with them, they are more likely to put on 2 planes, one to Selous, one to Ruaha which means on the Ruaha flight you won't be making multiple stops so you get there quicker. With SA we made a couple of stops at different airstrips in Selous, then on to Ruaha and I think we stopped at the Jongomero airstrip before the main one.

 

It can be quite a long flight to Ruaha, and Coastal give you bottles of water but there was nothing on the SA flight. Next year I'm going with SA again because I'm flying in with Qatar which arrives about 8am so I can connect straight to Ruaha at 10:30 rather than overnight in Dar. But if I was overnighting in Dar I would go with Coastal. It means an early start but that's better because the Dar traffic can be hellish.

[Atravelynn]

Maybe Selous did not have any wild dogs around but there was ample excitement! Nice going on the bushpig! Was your guide thrilled to see it too? The lion-croc interaction is fantastic. The plover chick is very fortunate. As you mention, really nice birds.

 

Yep, 7-4 was the right split.

 

Do you have any info on seeing the red colobus or on snorkeling outings in Zanzibar? Hope you enjoyed some relaxation, elephant shrew viewing, and diving in Zanzibar.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Atravelynn

[stokeygirl]

We actually had a few bushpig sightings in Selous- I think they are not that unusual. We even saw one in Ruaha but it was while we were out of the vehicle having a sundowner and the light was bad and I had a G&T in hand, so no photo.

 

There were red colobus and snorkelling on offer but I didn't do either. We only had 3 nights and I did a double dive each morning, so there wasn't much time for anything else. I know the place we stayed was very close to the forest where the red colubus are, and also they have dolphin viewing outings nearby.

[Morkel Erasmus]

@@stokeygirl loved your report and photos - everyone I talk to who's been to Ruaha and Kwihala can only highly recommend it!

Not that I can afford it, but would love to go someday

[Atravelynn]

G&T and a bushpig, what a combo!

[Geoff]

Another excellent report and images. ripper Bush pig sighting.

[madaboutcheetah]

@@stokeygirl - I'm still curious about Selous - you mentioned in the report that the green season was a better time for dogs there ........... in which part of the Selous? Would that mean Nov-March?

 

About Ruaha - Fantastic report and I have Kiwahala on my list .......... But both these parks along with Katavi I hope to get to one day!!!

 

Thanks.........

 

[stokeygirl]

@@stokeygirl - I'm still curious about Selous - you mentioned in the report that the green season was a better time for dogs there ........... in which part of the Selous? Would that mean Nov-March?

 

About Ruaha - Fantastic report and I have Kiwahala on my list .......... But both these parks along with Katavi I hope to get to one day!!!

 

Thanks.........

 

 

This is what the guides were saying. I think in the past, the dogs have denned closer to the camps, and this year a pack initially denned near Selous Impala in June but moved the den after only a few weeks. It's quite possibly due to the dens being disturbed too much by vehicles.

 

In any case, if the dogs den far away then it means hardly any sightings in the denning months. At Selous Impala they basically hadn't seen any dogs since the pack moved the den back in late June. So the best months are probably Nov to March (most camps close April and May). Obviously June this year would have been awesome but I don't know if it can be relied for the dogs to do what they did this year.

 

Ruaha also has a very good population of wild dogs but they also have the same pattern- they den way away from the main area of the park so are hardly seen in denning months. So green season is also a better time for dogs there.

 

It's all totally opposite to Botswana!

[misato4me]

Dear @@stokeygirl, Wow! Thank you for such a wonderful trip report. Your account of everything and your photos has me so excited as I leave for my first safari in a weeks time for Ruaha (Kwihala 6 nights ) & Selous (Impala 4 nights ) then onto Ungunja for 3 nights. I know it's the start of the early rains, and not necessarily the best time to go, but after reading your report, I can't wait!.

[stokeygirl]

@@misato4me Have a great time! I'd love to hear what Ruaha is like in the green season. Maybe you might actually see some wild dogs................

[misato4me]

@@stokeygirl, I've just returned from an unforgettable first safari to Ruaha and Selous and have thoroughly enjoyed re reading your trip report. Your photos are fantastic. Some early rain has fallen and areas have started to green up but it was still very dry.

 

I can report - no wild dogs in Ruaha but we did find a small pack of 8/9 of them at dusk in Selous. I insisted when we found them that we simply sit and watch. We must have been there for a couple of hours. They were beautiful as they slept but then they woke and it was as if they hadn't seen each other for ages. They bounced around and played and greeted each other, yelping with excitement. We followed them to water and continued to watch them play until they were noticeably instructed to be on their guard. One was injured (foreleg) and struggled to keep up but the pack would stop and wait. We then left them in peace to do their thing.

[AKChui]

@@stokeygirl. Excellent trip report! You started this TR while I was traveling and I'm finally getting around to read those TRs I missed or didn't want to start in the middle. Once I beat the Serengeti to death I know where next I'll be visiting!

Great photographs, and your ability to maintain focus during the sequence shots reflects your skills. Could you describe your camera gear, especially your lenses? I use that info to judge working distances for the animals in the different parks. (Or is it the working distances of your driver?). Contributing factors could be vehicle densities, aggressiveness of the drivers, history of poaching, park off-roading rules, etc.

[madaboutcheetah]

@@stokeygirl - saw on my facebook feed recently, that Kwihala has joined the Asilia network ..............

[SafariChick]

@@stokeygirl - saw on my facebook feed recently, that Kwihala has joined the Asilia network ..............

 

@@madaboutcheetah is that a good or a bad thing? I have heard of Asilia but don't know enough to know!

[pault]

@@SafariChick... It's a BAD thing because they will be the cheapest camp and probably the smallest (6 tents) camp in the Asilia network. How long can that last? Seriously, presumably Asilia won't be managing it on site or actually owning it, so it shouldn't make any difference at first. We stayed at two Asilia-netowrked camps one after the other in 2011 and they were very, very different. You could easily have loved one and been indifferent about the other.

[madaboutcheetah]

 

@@stokeygirl - saw on my facebook feed recently, that Kwihala has joined the Asilia network ..............

 

@@madaboutcheetah is that a good or a bad thing? I have heard of Asilia but don't know enough to know!

 

 

I think @@pault has a point ......... Hopefully it's just a marketing tie up that may help them......

 

We stayed at two Asilia camps in the Serengeti - very professionally run and nice simple semi-mobile camps....

[penolva]

Yes, I think Sand Rivers is a little bit less expensive than Beho but in the same ballpark.

 

@pault I think it's a bit of a misconception (one that I had too) that the Adventure Camps camps are all co-owned. They're not, they're just all marketed by Adventure Camps. Lake Manze and Mdonya are so similar that I think those two might be co-owned, but Kwihala definitely is not owned by the same person as the others.

 

So the experience isn't quite as uniform as one might expect.

Yes, I think Sand Rivers is a little bit less expensive than Beho but in the same ballpark.

 

@pault I think it's a bit of a misconception (one that I had too) that the Adventure Camps camps are all co-owned. They're not, they're just all marketed by Adventure Camps. Lake Manze and Mdonya are so similar that I think those two might be co-owned, but Kwihala definitely is not owned by the same person as the others.

 

So the experience isn't quite as uniform as one might expect.

We stayed at both Sands Rivers and Beho Beho. Both are lovely but Beho Beho won hands down because of its location, guides and great staff. The walking safari from there is fantastic, saw wild dogs while on foot and got barked at!! They also do amazing communal meals moving the location for dinner to a different place each evening. They have a tree house now which looks fantastic. We did an overnight bush camp while there. We got 5 nights for the price of 3 and the bush camp thrown in. They do some great deals from time to time. Hope to go back one day and will include Ruaha next time. Pen