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Roughing it through Ruaha and Katavi sep. 2014


Africalover

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I will make a TR from my safari to Ruaha and Katavi sep. 2014

Here are some photos to start with.

 

Cheetah Ruaha.

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Leopard Ruaha.

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Ruaha.

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Camp at Ifuguru Ruaha.

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Camp a Katuma river Katavi.

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Katavi.post-19633-0-62137900-1412189448_thumb.jpgpost-19633-0-74820400-1412189591_thumb.jpgpost-19633-0-24961500-1412189692_thumb.jpgpost-19633-0-26244200-1412189860_thumb.jpgpost-19633-0-67040100-1412189967_thumb.jpgpost-19633-0-67348400-1412190079_thumb.jpg

 

To be continued.

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Ruaha and Katavi, I am jealous!!! ;-) Looking forward to the next pictures

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OH MY, these are gorgeous....those leopards, the landscape. Amazing. Waiting for more!

and details, with whom? I am trying to work my way down to smaller tents....we'll see!

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Looks fantastic! Very exciting. Did you drive there or fly there?

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Great to see these lovely shots, and I am really looking forward to the rest. Your Katavi campsite shot is idyllic.

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Both Ruaha and Katavi are at the top end of my (infinite) bucket list, so I´m very much looking forward to this. Great pics, especially love the elephants in the riverbed!

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@Africalover

 

Very cool, you really had some great sightings. I really enjoyed the shots of the elephants and giraffe by the river - it gives a nice sense of the sheer scale and beauty of the park. Also, how did it feel sleeping in such a small tent with lions around? I admit that I'd be a bit nervous!

 

Cheers from Boston - Paul

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I have a friend ( Otto Mlanda ) - who is a fantastic Safariguide and runs a small safari business in Dar es salaam. I have been on Safari with him several times ( Selous, Ruaha, Mikumi, Katavi ) - allways camping. He is a fantastic guy with a lot of knowledge - of especially the southern.parks.

 

I live in very civilized Denmark, we have hardly any wild nature left - more or less farmland all over. You cannot get lost if you are abel to walk 5 km :-) The most dangerous things we have is traffic and sickness.

 

Thats why I am an Africalover - my inner Neandertaler needs to get dirty and all my senses needs to get alert at least once a year:-)

 

Allthough I don't want to push my luck, I admit that the fact that safari - especially camping - can be dangerous, if you don't take care - appeals to me. You are up close and personal with animals and nature.

I have had lions, elephants, hippos and hyenas, less than 5 m from my little dometent. It is, at the same time fantastic and nervewrecking. When a lion roar that close, you allmost feel the tent vibrate.

 

Especially when it gets dark and in the morning you have to be very alert. You never know what to expect when you unzip your tent in morning. But also in daytime you have to pay attention. Elephants often visit camp and we have to "dance" around the car or get into the car in the middle of the day.

 

This year in Katavi, I was peeing before going to sleep, while suddenly my headlamp lightenet up an bull elephant staring at me, less than 10 m away. I slowly went back to the car. The elephant showed no signs of agression, but I felt very humble and small.

Elephants and hippos past our tent within 2 m. I watched them through the mosquitonet in the dark. Elephants are very big that close, sitting in a tent.

 

This year we arranged a safari to Ruaha and Katavi. I flew with Safari airlink to Ruaha and met Otto. We had 5 nights in Ruaha camping 3 nights at Ifuguru and 2 nights Mbagi special campsite. Then we drove to Katavi via Mbeya 8 hour, where we Stayed for the night. It was a long drive. The next day we drove more than 12 hours along the construction of the tar road to Kigoma. Some tar but a lot on very dusty dirt road. We had to drive in the dark - arriving at Katavi nine o'clock in the evening. We slept in the cabins near the headquarter. The next 5 days we camped wild - where we wanted, at Katuma river and Lake Chada.

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...And I thought my camp in Ruaha was wild.....OMG this is AMAZING!! Thank you for sharing. I want to go back.

 

(Well I want to go back everywhere but I totally Love "Wild!")

 

Leopard in the tree...awesome. And landscapes there are so beautiful. You have some great shots. Love it.

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@@Africalover what a fabulous Ruaha experience.

 

I like the way you describe the thrill of wild camping - the night sounds and checking around the tent when stepping out in the morning.

 

That looks like a fair sized croc next to the Yellow-billed stork, and all those hippos in so little water and leopard in a tree, what great sightings.

 

Thanks also for the travel time info between Ruaha and katavi - all food for thought.

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Thank you all for your kind comments.

 

@@graceland - when I was in Ruaha I wondered where Kichaka does their walking. Was it in Lunda area or on the eastern side of Ruaha river ?

 

We had 5 fantastic days in Ruaha. Sep. is high season, but it never felt crowded, only on a few occasions did we share sightings. Most of the time we were driving around alone.

 

The leopard we had by ourselves for 5 min. before she went into the bush. We also encountered 3 cheetahs stalking an impala, on our way back from Lunda area. They ran into the bush, before I had a chance to take a photo.

 

Some more photos from Ruaha.

 

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Those lions in and around camp images are super, @@Africalover, though those cheetah and leopards were hardly shabby :)

 

Love the notion of wild camping though I can imagine that night-time bush encounters must have been quite hairy! Thanks so much for sharing.

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@@Africalover

 

Yes we were In Lunda and further east(?) about 3 or so hours away from where we saw camp operators vehicles. I did a TR on Kichaka (Sept. 2013) and I believe I MAY have posted a map, but not sure. Moli as I hear has now expanded his operations (we were his third guests, very new, but exciting to help him explore what may come) and gone further into Ruaha...Zim Girl would know this as she spent 12 nights in Sept.

 

There have been several ST'rs who went this Sept. but so far I haven't read a TR from them, though all had good words on the safaris to me.

 

Your photos are exceptional of the area! Fantastic mobile camping, though I am not yet (maybe soon) prepared for "domes"..my knees might not allow me to enter.

 

Thanks for posting such beautiful shots of Ruaha. I remember the beauty well.

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@@Africalover It seemed very quiet this September. In w week there we saw only two vehicles from Ruaha River Lodge and one from Mwagusi while there. Otherwise it was the Kwihala vehicles and a few people like yourself driving in, but maybe a couple of those were from one of the camps outside the park. There would have been more out (Mdonya Old River certainly had quite a few guests) but that is all we saw. Great you saw cheetahs - we were unlucky this time; always just missing them. That leopard looks familiar (although i am not counting spots!!) - was it anywhere near Mwagusi/ Mbuni picnic site?

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@@Africalover

 

We spent 12 nts walking with Kichaka Expeditions in September this year.

 

We walked approx. 130 kms including 60 kms of Ruaha riverfront. We walked from the Lunda area where their main camp is based right to the Eastern Boundary and also spent 3 nts fly camping in the Mpululu area over the escarpment to the north of the Park.

 

I will be trying to put up a trip report soon.

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@ Graceland - read your TR with Kichaka - great stuff.

 

@ Pault - no it was in an hilly area some km from Ifuguru campsite.

 

@ Zimgirl - I really look foreward to read more from your trip. Allthough I have been on bushwalks with rangers in Selous - I want to do a real walking safari in the future. Maybe Kichaka, because I want to go back Ruaha. 60 km along the river - then you must have been almost out of the park and close to huntingareas?

Did you encounter big game or was it meerly a scenery walk?

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Otto..The bushbaby

@@Africalover, this was fantastic safari we ever been,especial the time I need to run away from the baboon troop at Ifuguru camp site, we spend a night with baboons

Edited by Otto..The bushbaby
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What a fantastic safari @@Africalover! Great sightings and photography! I am a bit jealous, we also just came back from Ruaha, but could not find cheetah... What an amazing park, I hope that I will be able to visit it again.

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Nice!! Thanks so much for sharing your photos and your adventure.

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@ Otto.. The bushbaby

Hello my friend, great to see you on safari talk. Yes we had indeed a fantastic trip.

 

@ Fly Traveler

Yes Ruaha is fantastic and I will be back, camping again. You should try that, Otto can arrange that, at a very good price :-)

I am looking foreward to read your TR.

 

Otto refered to an evening comming back from a gamedrive. A troop of baboons had invaded the camp, lucky for us they had not touched anything in camp. We were collecting firewood, when suddenly all hell broke loose, most of the troop ran towards Otto with a lot of noice, before retreat. Otto just smileyed.post-19633-0-59795500-1413212055_thumb.jpg

 

I will continue with more from Katavi soon.

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Loving this trip report @@Africalover. :)

 

Ruaha and Katavi are very high on my bucket list. Also love the basic camping offered here. How many of you on this trip?

 

It seems you had some fantastic sightings

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Hot spot Ruaha !! I am enjoying your trip report, great so far !!

 

Paco

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