The Road to Ruaha Hilltop Lodge
The hilltop lodge at Ruaha is owned and run by the same
company as Mikumi Safari Lodge, so Fred had worked out a good package deal that
gets us a couple of nights down in Ruaha, effectively acting as a free transfer
to the two other lodges in the area, and filling out our Ruaha stay to ten
nights. This would also be our last transfer of any length by road, as our big
transfer to The Selous and then back to Dar es Salaam would both be by air.
Although the journey from Mikumi to Ruaha is only slightly
shorter than our first transfer to Mikumi, we would be making an early start
and the road to Iringa and beyond wouldn’t be quite as busy on a Monday morning
as the road out of Dar es Salaam had been on a Friday afternoon. Once again,
Joseph would be our driver on the bus with Mdoe acting as a guide to take care
of us along the way.
True to our pre-trip thoughts, the roads were indeed a bit
quieter and we made good progress out of Mikumi and west into the valleys and
rolling hills of the central mountains. It soon started to rain again, having
rained already for most of the previous night. The rivers were full, roiling
brown with mud-laden, turbulent water. Still, we made good progress on a good
surface for the first couple of hours.
The speed of progress slowed quite severely when we got to
the pass through Kitonga Gorge. The road here climbs for several kilometres at
between six and eight degrees without any passing lanes or run-off areas. All
the trucks are reduced to first gear and crawl at little more than walking pace
with the chance to pass even one of them being remote, particularly considering
the bus is not the most powerful vehicle to choose for this.
This short step in the day’s journey took almost an hour and
we could clearly see the danger of the route and the strain placed on the vehicles.
One truck had clearly suffered total brake failure, the driver taking the
sensible option of crossing the oncoming traffic and crashing into the cliff
face – the sheer drop-off of several hundred metres on the other side wasn’t an
option I would have taken either. Also clearly, however, was the evidence of
someone being less fortunate in their choice. We saw a group of locals hauling
large wheel hubs and axles onto a small layby from somewhere far below.
Obviously, scrap is scrap and used parts come with no warranty!
Once over the pass, the road is much less steep and the land
quickly opens out on either side as we move much more quickly through a series
of villages towards Iringa. It’s a big town, more a city really and not
something I’d seen so far on this trip – we’d only been around the airport on
the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.
We were taken to a quite nice but very unobtrusive
restaurant called The Backyard – probably for obvious reasons – and had a
pleasant light lunch before making our way once more. The stop gave Joseph
chance to go and fill the bus with fuel. We opted for soft drinks – I’d been on
water or beer so far. A chance for my first for this trip, and greatly missed
taste of, Tangawize. It’s one of the hidden gems of East Africa, a nicely sharp
but sweet traditional non-alcoholic ginger beer that is made by Coca Cola. I
know they have differentiation in their brands across the world – some of the
flavours of Fanta available can seem really strange to a person from Western
Europe – but this is one they really should make available everywhere. Too much
sugar, but holiday!
We were blessed with more than half of the remaining distance – now west of us – to Ruaha being on good paved roads, but the 60 or so kilometres in the middle were on more traditional dirt and bumpy but not as bad as some I have been over in the past (I’m looking in particular at the roads in Etosha!).
Hilltop Lodge isn’t. Well, you know what I mean – it’s about
75 metres up the hill to the main building, but there’s plenty more hill above
that, so it isn’t “hilltop”. I guess “hillside” wouldn’t have the same
commercial ring to it.
I’m not actually complaining, as the view out across the
vastness of Ruaha is so good that you would have to be very mean spirited
indeed to find fault just for a few metres up or down. Although you are outside
the park boundary, you’re close enough that it really is park for as far as the
eye can see and beyond. There’s a line of hills in the extreme distance that
are still well within the park boundary.
And anyway, apart from the name, the place is pretty good,
certainly as good as, if not better than, Mikumi Safari Lodge. They are owned
by the same company and they are very similar in the layout of the rooms and
the organisation of meals and such. The only differences are in the shorter,
much better, road to the lodge and that world-class view. It isn’t Lake Mulehe
in Uganda, but it’s still pretty awesome.
With only two nights, that means there is only one real
choice for the day – a full day in the park with a packed lunch. I’m not sure
what the weather has in store for us, but a full day is going to be an epic!
The Hilltop Safari
I must admit that I was surprised to see Joseph take the
wheel of our truck after breakfast, but it was a pleasant surprise, as he has
been an excellent driver so far and we know we can feel safe with him behind
the wheel. We are accompanied by a nice, knowledgeable guide called Moses who
quickly shows Fred that he knows his birds and can spot them well.
The drive down to the park gate takes about 30 minutes and then almost the same again through what appears to be a quiet part of the park until we arrive at the bridge across the Great Ruaha River. And, after the rain we have been having further north and east, it really is great, a boiling mass of water deep enough for a few hippos to submerge completely in the turbulent currents above the bridge and virtually no chance to spot a crocodile or waterside bird..
I’ll start with a summary. We spent nine hours in the vehicle
from lodge to lodge, apart from a short break at a riverside picnic site for
lunch. The park is vast and we only explored a smallish corner of it. There are
signposts to points of interest that are more than 100km and some of the game
drive loops are 30 or 40 kilometres long. You cannot do it in one day and we
are well aware of it.
So, the secret to surviving day one is to not set
expectations too high and then you’ll be genuinely pleased when your simple
hopes are met.
For me, this means that a slow start with a few impalas and
half a dozen nice birds in the first hour or so is nothing to worry about. It
will get better and it very quickly does. Soon there are zebras, kudu and
giraffes, all with excellent viewing and photo opportunities. Our first
tantalizing glimpses of elephants are pretty mundane, but soon we are meeting
family groups and lone bulls out in the open and plenty close enough to the
vehicle (that’s less than 10m sometimes – close enough for me to use my phone
camera). I often get asked, when talking to people back home, just how close do
you get to the animals. This is an opportunity to just use the phone and show
that, even a phone camera is enough to get some good shots.
Even stopping for lunch is interrupted by a couple of
families of elephants crossing the river no more than 100m from our seats. This
is the how the day continues, lots of great birds broken up by magnificent
elephant sightings, close encounters and angry aunties threatening to charge
the vehicle when we overstep the boundaries of politeness.
When you combine the elephant and giraffe encounters of this
day with the frankly magnificent scenery of the lush, green park with its
massive and majestic Baobab trees and stunning mountain backdrops, this really
is a place that I’m glad to be spending more than a week inside.
Anyone who has listened to me speak of my safari experiences
will know that, while I have nothing but patience and understanding for the
many regional cultures we’ve encountered on our trips, I don’t feel the need to
be involved or expected to participate. I’m also someone who likes to be kept
in the loop – any plan is better than no plan and it is still easier to change
the plan rather than blundering through with no plan at all. It’s also much
better to communicate early and often than leaving me in the dark.
So, after our nine-hour epic day in the park, it is more than somewhat disappointing to be informed as we arrive that we are having dinner in the bush. I may be an old cynic, but to me, eating dinner in the bush is just an excuse to make it hard for me to see what I’m eating and to let the bugs help me eat it. It’s not a deal-breaker, but ask me. Don’t tell me that it’s going to happen at the last minute. Honestly, I almost dipped, but hunger made me do it!
In the end the food was fine, but I could really do with
never, ever, hearing the “team” singing some “Hakuna Matata” song again. I just
don’t get it. Are the staff singing it because they want to thank us, or are
they being told by the management that they have to sing it to thank us? Either
way, I find it deeply embarrassing and totally unnecessary. That may just be my
reserved “British” nature, but I’m not actually sure I have a problem with
community singing, more with it being aimed at a target that includes me.
In the end, it does take away from what was otherwise a
great day. Nothing will break us, especially when there are elephants, but I
wanted a day of pure enjoyment and I had to be given a little endurance that I
could easily have done without.
With a leisurely breakfast, it is time to leave Mdoe and
Joseph behind and head on to our next destination. Tandala is just a few
kilometres down the road, nearer to the park entrance and very different. We
have a quiet day getting settled in and chasing a few birds around the grounds.
We finish with a great dinner and plans for the park tomorrow are once more
set.