The river is not looking too bad for this time of year, however, as per usual, it has dropped significantly over a short period of time.
I suspect we will see the same trend as last year, in that the river will continue to drop fairly fast until it reaches a shallow trickle and will stop altogether at the beginning of October when the rice growers start planting their seedlings.
This year, Ruaha National Park received very poor rainfall, as a result the springs in the sand-rivers, and surrounding areas are mostly dry already. Therefore, the animals will face a big problem later on in the season. In fact, over the past few years due to the drying of the river, game viewing has really deteriorated from the end of September through to December. Previously, when the river was in better shape, these dry months were Ruahas' prime game viewing months.
I suspect we will see the same trend as last year, in that the river will continue to drop fairly fast until it reaches a shallow trickle and will stop altogether at the beginning of October when the rice growers start planting their seedlings.
This year, Ruaha National Park received very poor rainfall, as a result the springs in the sand-rivers, and surrounding areas are mostly dry already. Therefore, the animals will face a big problem later on in the season. In fact, over the past few years due to the drying of the river, game viewing has really deteriorated from the end of September through to December. Previously, when the river was in better shape, these dry months were Ruahas' prime game viewing months.