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| We say Goodbye to FF Iringa and they say Goodbye to us |
Farewell to Iringa, travel to Ruaha National Park
Outbound to Iringa, May 27, 2024
By: Steve F
Monday, May 27, was a day for saying goodbye, travel and getting an introduction to Ruaha National Park.
Terri and I woke up around seven. I had a refreshing cool shower. The six year old twins, Winnie and Freddie, had been very shy when we arrived on the 22nd, but greeted us today and asked Terri to read them a story. Winnie liked to practice the English words she knew. After one last breakfast, we said goodbye to them, as well as 18 year old daughter Angel and foster daughter Babette, who had done most of the cooking during our stay, as well as laundry. Dr. Sully had to leave for her shift at the hospital at 0600, and we had said goodbye to her the night before.
Rev. Winston drove us down the bumpy dirt road to town and the Lutheran Center. We talked about the number of unfinished and unoccupied structures along the way, due to the fact that bank credit is unavailable for most people, and houses are built in steps, whenever the owner has any extra cash to put toward it. Many houses are occupied as soon as they are roofed in, and some languish a number of years with only walls.
At the Lutheran center, we chatted for a while with our new friends. Amos of Migration Venture Africa safari arrived with guides Thadei and Onesmo (pronounced Onay) and the two oldest Land Cruisers in his fleet.
We said goodbye to our Iringa friends and loaded up. We gradually worked our way through the city traffic and into the countryside. For the next two hours we drove through small farm areas mixed with villages and stony hillsides, which, as geologist Dave reminds us, are two billion years old. We pass several signs which seem to indicate that the park boundary is very close, but it is about 12:30 when we reach the gate, stopping to register and take a break.
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| Entrance to Ruaha National Park |
The roads inside the park are the reason all the guides drive land cruisers. We start our leisurely "game drive," not to be confused with the kind of drive in which a large group of hunters try to herd the game toward the shooters. We soon see our first group of impala, a medium sized antelope. Later we spot a slightly larger species, identified as a waterbuck. We also logged several bird species, including guinea hens and others for which I have lost my notes. Around 1:45, we reach the Ruaha River, an impressively powerful channel in the dry savanna.
The guides spot a group of hippos on the bank downstream, and a huge crocodile. We have our box lunches at the picnic area next to the bridge.
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| Our lunch stop |
About 5 pm, we arrive at the Ruaha River Lodge, a rustic group of thatched roof, stone cabins adjacent to the river, designed to be unobtrusive in the park environment, and solar powered. It gets an A for ambience, but the solar outlets don’t seem to have enough juice to charge all our devices, and the lights are dim. The solar shower is nice and hot at the end of the day, but cool in the morning.
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| Happy hour at Ruaha River Lodge |
Dinner, drinks and companionship at the dining room were great. Innkeepers requested that we be escorted by their Maasai staff back to our rooms. This seemed at first to be an annoyance, but the hippos, which we could hear across the river, have been known to come over to the hotel side, and can be very dangerous.
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| Lodges overlooked the river; deep grunts of hippos could be heard even across the river |
