Iringa & Ruahu National Park


Day 17 – 25th June 2019

We had expected an 8 hour trip to Kisolanza Old Farmhouse just south of Iringa, but were pleasantly surprised by the new road all the way to Mafinga, which shortened the trip by four hours!  We were really mindful about the speed limits and stuck to them like glue, but were stopped just before Mafinga for allegedly speeding – doing 61km’s in a 50km zone.  We were adamant that we were not speeding, but after almost an hour, ended up paying Ts 10 000 on the spot fine payment – no receipt.
We enjoyed a magnificent supper at Kisolanza – spinach soup, followed by rump steak, fresh vegies and Irish potatoes, with strawberries and ice cream for dessert.

Day 18 – 26th June 2019

The morning was spent at Isimila Stone Age site – the walk through the pillared gorge was absolutely incredible.


A couple of hours were spent in Iringa getting phone cards, drawing money and buying meat and groceries.

The road to Ruaha National Park was not that good and went through many villages which slowed us down tremendously.  But as they say in Tanzania ‘polepole’. 
We pulled into Chogela Campsite (20 minutes from the Park gate) due to it being late afternoon and the cost of park entry.  We were warmly welcomed by Odilo and Jeremiah.
The campsite is highly recommended - really beautiful, shady campsites and the ablutions squeeky clean. We were also supplied with firewood which was included in the price of US$30 per couple.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tarangire National Park

Image
Day 30 & 31 – 8 th & 9 th Jully 2019 The trip from Arusha to Tarangire was absolutely facinating.  Being Masaai territory, you expected only to see the Masaai tending their herds.  But our journey co-incided with a special cattle market in the Mgagau area.  It is here where people come and buy and sell cattle, goats and sheep for either for butcheries, milking and farming. Mgagau Cattle Market  And, of course, some Masaai are too lazy to walk their goat to the market! A Masaai taking his goat to market Tarangire National Park thus far has been the best National Park we have ever visited.   Not a large variety of game, but massive herds of zebra, buffalo, elephant and giraffe.   Also, huge prides of lion. Upon arrival at the gate, the large number of tour operated vehicles was overwhelming.  This is possibly forerunner of what we can expect in the Serengeti earlier next week. Tour Operator's vehicles for Tarangire We wanted special camps
Read more

Serengeti National Park

Image
Days 37 to 42 - 15th to 20th July 2019 We passed a few Masaai villages on route to Serengeti.  The Serengeti proved to be everything we dreamed it would be - other than the VERY bad roads, cold showers and atrocious ablution blocks in the public campsites. Because we could only get 2 nights in Kogatende special campsite number 7 and the rest would be public campsites, we decided that we would have one night in Dik Dik , one night in Lobo and then push north to Kogatende which is on the Mara River, then back to Dik Dik for a night, before the last night at Ndabaka. Between the Gate and Dik Dik there were huge herds of Thompson's and Grant's Gazelle, the occasional elephant, some resident wildebeest and zebra, and quite a few lion. A highlight on our way north to Kogatende was a cheetah sat on an anthill, and just hundreds and thousands of wildebeest. We met the ranger at the Kogatende Air Strip - a very friendly guy.  We asked him where we find SCS 7.  He sai
Read more

Ruaha National Park

Image
Day 19 & 20 – 27 th & 28 th June 2019 Our first taste of a Tanzanian National Park: We weren’t expecting to see much game with Ruaha being the biggest Park in Tanzania, but were proven wrong!    We saw all the usual animals, including Thompson’s gazelle and the Waterbuck without the ring around its bum (we don’t know the name of it) – both which were firsts for us – and a pride of lion who had just finished devouring their morning meal and had given it over to the Lappet-faced Vultures.  There was also a large concentration of giraffe, which certainly look different to the giraffe we get back home. Giraffe Thompson's Gazelle The bird life was much more prolific than in Zambia and we got to see 4 newbies -Tanzanian Red-Billed Hornbill, Superb Starling, White Crowned Lapwing and the Bare-faced Go Away bird.    Bare-Faced Go-Away-Bird Tanzanian Red-Billed Hornbill  Superb Starling We ha
Read more