Tanzania's largest national park is home to one of Africa's
biggest lion populations. Sarah Marshall explores the sprawling
wilderness of Ruaha
Sound travels through the air at a rate of 332
metres per second, but in the hot, dusty Tanzanian bush, it seems to
move much faster.
The gruff barks of baboons combine force with
the urgent snorts of impala to create a sonic signpost leading us to a
clearing in the thickets. There sits a leopard, its jaws clinging to the
neck of an impala, caught only seconds before.
The leopard's
glassy eyes dart nervously from right to left as he attempts – and
ultimately fails – to safeguard his prey. Two yapping black-backed
jackals drive him away, and a pride of lions that, like us, has been
drawn to the commotion, moves in to steal the feast.
It is true lions have a good foothold in Ruaha, the largest national
park in Tanzania and indeed East Africa; 10 per cent of Africa's
population are believed to roam here. The sprawling wilderness,
encompassing rivers, mountains, acacia forest and swampland, is also
home to a myriad of predators and one of the biggest elephant gatherings
in the continent.
Yet most of the park remains untouched. There
are only seven tourist lodges occupying a game-rich 5 per cent of the
20,000km sq area. Realising Ruaha's potential, the Asilia Africa safari
group took over operation of the six-tent Kwihala safari bush camp
earlier this year, and they now have plans to open an additional luxury
lodge.
On my way to Kwihala, I pass a metal sign hanging above the
park entrance, which seems to say it all: Discover the Undiscovered.
It's a message of great promise for the days ahead.
I'm visiting
in October, the dry season, when most of the dense foliage has
disappeared, leaving a brittle skeleton of branches and twigs, through
which game can easily be spied. Cartoonish baobab trees punctuate the
landscape, some bulbous and swollen, others gnawed like apple cores by
hungry elephants.
We stop at the seasonal Mdonya River, now a
dusty sand bed. Only clusters of towering date palms indicate water
still flows below the ground, although a herd of astute elephants, busy
excavating the dust, has clearly cottoned on.
A flock of
yellow-throated sandgrouse glides above wispy fronds of thatching grass,
while hyrax scurry into the cracks of granite kopjes, escaping the now
searing midday sun. It's our signal to head directly to camp, where an
al fresco communal lunch with fellow guests is followed by a long siesta
in the shade.
The possibilities for game viewing in Ruaha are
undoubtedly rich, yet there's woefully little data about the number of
animals present. It's one of the reasons Professor Amy Dickman started
her Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP) in 2009. The wildlife conservationist –
whose work was applauded last year with a nomination for a prestigious
Tusk Award for Conservation at a ceremony attended by Prince William –
works closely with lodges in the park to collect data on predators.
Guides are given cameras to record sightings and, as an incentive to
work harder, after a year or 125 sightings they're allowed to keep the
kit.
"Ruaha supports some of the most important wildlife
populations left in the world," says German-born Amy, whose project HQ
is located just outside the park gates.
Much of their work is
focused on lions, a species seriously under threat. "There are now fewer
wild lions in Africa than rhinos," says Amy, quoting a current estimate
of 20,000. "That fact is shocking to most people who just don't realise
how sharply lion numbers have dropped in the past 20 years."
One
of the biggest problems is community conflict, something I learn more
about when I visit the RCP camp. There are 22 villages close to the park
with more than 40,000 residents, a mixture of Masai and Barabaig
tribes, who are mainly pastoralists. Many have lost precious livestock
to predators, and have responded with retaliatory killings, often
poisoning carcasses in the hope of preventing any future attacks and as
an act of angry retribution.
"It took a long time for us to gain
the communities' trust," says Sonja Lipenga, Amy's second in command, as
we share a meal of beans and ugali around a simple camp table.
Eventually – and somewhat unexpectedly – a breakthrough came with mobile
phones. "We allowed people to charge their phones here for free and,
while they were waiting, took the opportunity to discuss problems with
livestock and predators."
RCP now assists villages with the
construction of stronger wire bomas (enclosures for livestock), which
have been almost 100 per cent successful, and also offers tangible
benefits of education and veterinary medicine, in exchange for
co-operation.
Engaging the support of communities is vital to the
conservation of predators in Ruaha, and Amy and her team are doing a
fine job of strengthening links between people, wildlife and tourism.
If
organised in advance and accompanied by a park ranger, it's possible to
go on night drives in the park, so on my final evening, I stay out long
after dark. Once again, sound becomes our key pinpointer, with shrieks,
growls and chattering mapping our journey. Now temperatures have
cooled, wildlife is even more abundant, active and hungry.
A
spotted eagle owl perches on the edge of a branch overhanging the road,
its gaze too intently fixed on small rodents to notice our presence. A
few metres along the track, we find a lesser spotted genet with a
scorpion dangling from its mouth, and a flick of the spotlight
illuminates the gleaming eyes of a leopard stalking a scrub hare.
We
sit quietly as the young cat hunches its shoulders, finally powering
forward like a fully loaded spring and giving chase. Predator and prey
disappear into the darkness, leaving us to guess the outcome.
It doesn't matter. In Ruaha, it's the undiscovered and unknown that proves to be equally as thrilling.
FactFile
Sarah
Marshall was a guest of Audley Travel (www.audleytravel.com; 01993 838
500) which offers a nine-night trip to Tanzania, including one night in
Dar es Salaam, and two nights at each of Kwihala, Namiri Plains and
Kimondo from £5,490pp. The price includes all international and light
aircraft flights, private transfers, emergency medical evacuation
insurance and all activities, meals and drinks while on safari.
To find out more about the Ruaha Carnivore Project, visit ruahacarnivoreproject.com
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