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Stunning Ikuka Safari Camp in the beautiful Ruaha NP - a photographic report.


madaboutcheetah

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Good to see you enjoyed Ruaha Hari. ;)

 

@ZaminOz Actually Ruaha is okay for cheetahs. I'm sure you've got at least a 50-50 chance of seeing one - better if you really go all out. So yes, I reckon he's seriously mellowing.

Sadly the once common cheetah have suffered quite badly in the last 2 years in Ruaha, a confirmed poisoning of 2 last year has certainly not helped the situation. One benefit of low cheetah numbers has been the increased sightings of wild dog, of which I had many days tracking them.

 

I have spent 36 nights here this year alone, 16 in January's superb green season and 20 this late Oct, through Nov (with an off-road permit) and in all that time I had one very brief sighting of a running away cheetah.

 

So for the foreseeable future there's very little of a 50-50 chance I'm afraid. -_-

 

Don't get me wrong, Ruaha is still one of my favourite areas, alongside SLNP and cheetah will return and they are there, (evidenced by a few impala carcasses that had obvious signs of very recent cheetah predation) but at this stage they are extremely skittish when found.

 

For my cheetah fix, I'm returning to Ndutu for Gnu calving season late Jan and thank god this is still very much a cheetah stronghold.

 

Cheers

Marc

Edited by africaaddict
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@africaaddict Thanks very much for the comprehensive Ruaha cheetah review Marc. I'd downgraded Ruaha fro cheetah after finding only tracks on my last visit (hence 50-50) but that's a shame (good news about the dogs at the same time though). I am sure the sheer size of the protected area is part of the reason for the regular changes in what Ruaha is "hot" for though. I won;t be returning until 2019 at the earliest so teh situation may be different yet again by then!

 

Staying that length of time in Ruaha is seriously interesting. Would love to hear more about those trips.

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  • 4 months later...
SidSafari

@@madaboutcheetah

 

Fantastic shots Hari! I was in Ruaha in the early 90's when I was a kid and went to school in Dar. It was a rugged and beautiful park, untouched by the commercialism that's now common in the northern circuit. I'm glad to see some of that old Africa is still present there today! The park was famous for its birds and the huge Elephant herds. I remember seeing herds 30-40 strong back in the day. Truly magical place which your photos brought back memories off.

Edited by SidSafari
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Love the impala on the road towards the big baobab. I noticed you are using some creative framing techniques, too, especially with the trees. It looks great (as do all of your photos)!

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madaboutcheetah

Thanks for all the kind comments ........ Much appreciated!!!

 

Only thing I can say, Please put Ikuka and Ruaha into your travel plans ....... It's a special place with Special people!!!

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