The best time to visit Ruaha National Park is probably in the dry season between June and October. As a simple rule, the drier it gets, the fewer places there are for the game to drink and the more the animals congregate around remaining water sources. Of course this makes life much easier for lions and other predators as they simply have to hide in a bush near such a water source and try not to fall asleep.

This said, the wet season is also a magnificent time to see Ruaha National Park.

We spent three wet seasons living in this park and saw some excellent game at that time of year; particularly large herds of bull elephants, plenty of predators and, of course, large numbers of birds in outrageous breeding plumage. If you do decide to visit Ruaha in the rains (and I think this is well worth while) just make sure you spend a decent amount of time there (around 5 days). Expect to work a little harder for your wildlife than during the dry and you won't be disappointed. Like the rest of Southern Tanzania, Ruaha has two rainy seasons - at least in theory - although in our experience weather in Africa is just as unpredictable as anywhere else in the world. In more than a decade of working in Tanzania we have yet to see a "normal year".

The short rains fall in Ruaha National Park between October and late November, this is a period in which things start to turn green and temperatures build, reaching their maximum in the high 30s by day. Night time is rarely uncomfortable even at this time of year as the air is low in humidity.

Ruaha receives on average around 650mm of rain annually (the national average is around 1000mm), most of which falls in March and April. This is the time when the sand rivers like the Mwagusi and the Madonya are most likely to flood.

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When to go, Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

This said, the wet season is also a magnificent time to see Ruaha National Park.