Ruaha National Park

September 28th

After breakfast, Lindsay and I walked to Iringa Info desk to find the company Warthog Adventures. The transaction was quite easy. For $250 we could go to Ruaha National Park for one day, each additional day costs $150. To enter the park it costs $20 a person and then accommodation (the cheap kind) costs $20 per person per night. We thought that was reasonable given we would have our own driver and Land Rover for the time. We decided on a two day, 1 night tour. We spent one hour gathering water and various foods before returning to depart. The park has a kitchen in which you can cook your own food or you can pay for food at a dining facility. I was hoping to save money as much as possible and opted on bringing my own food. After a two and a half hour drive we managed to finally enter the park.

The park is the largest in Tanzania with a lot of wildlife within its boundaries. I was happy to find out that there is no fence keeping the animals inside so they can roam free if they want. The first stop on the trip was at a river where we saw hippos. The hippos were so large and lazy. We were able to get out of the vehicle and walk around taking photos of the hippos. Throughout the day we continued driving around. We saw giraffes, elephants, zebras, hyenas, warthogs, and impalas. At the end of the day we were still looking for lions and were exciting to come across a female pride sleeping under a baobab tree. It is amazing how close you can get to all the different animals. We finished the driving shortly after sunset and unpacked in our bandas. The bandas are the cheapest form of sleeping accommodations. Lindsay and I shared a thatch hut which had two beds covered in mosquito netting. There was also a building for bathing, one for showering (real showers!), and a kitchen facility. We met two other groups of tourists while there. The kitchen facility had electricity so we spent a few hours charging up our various electronics before going to sleep.

I was quite scared during the night. At 4 AM I had to use the bathroom really bad but was frightened to leave the banda. The bathroom facilities were about 75 yards from where I was sleeping. Typically, I am not scared of the dark but we were located along the river that had hippos swimming inside. It is common to have the hippos come out of the water during the night. I was not too excited about coming across one of those on my walk. Hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal. There are also crocodiles in the river and elephants close by. There is a good reason I was so scared! Instead, I went into the showers that were ten yards away and peed inside the first one! As I was walking to the showers something started to bark at me and I practically ran. Luckily, I only spent one night in the park and don’t have to worry about that happening again!

On our second day we got a late start at 8 AM, but saw just as much as we could imagine. We saw much of the same animals and at the end of the day saw a male lion hanging out under a baobab tree about ten yards away. We also saw a family of water buffalo as we were driving along the dried up river. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and much drier than we are used to in Kafule. All in all, the experience was well worth it and I am glad I spent all of the money I made from my stipends for this week of vacation. After we arrived yesterday we didn’t do much but relax for the rest of the evening.

Today, Lindsay and I did a lot of shopping. Iringa has a lot of tourist shops so we stocked up. Lindsay is going home for a few weeks in December and wanted to buy a lot for her family and friends before she leaves. I don’t know if I will be returning to Iringa again so I bought a lot of goodies to send home at some point. Tomorrow we will start the journey back home.

Love,

Gretchen