Rua­ha Nation­al Park is anoth­er remote, sel­dom vis­it­ed safari secret. This arid bushveld haven is dot­ted with mas­sive baobab trees, which are often carved into weird sculp­tured shapes by ele­phants seek­ing mois­ture dur­ing the dry sea­son. At 20,000 km² this is the largest nation­al park in Tan­za­nia, and with adja­cent game reserves, the total area (under some form of con­ser­va­tion) exceeds 45,000 km². The park is named after the Great Rua­ha Riv­er, which hosts dra­mat­ic dry sea­son preda­tor action when ani­mals line the banks to slake their thirst. Rua­ha has good ele­phant pop­u­la­tions (although poach­ing has reduced pop­u­la­tions) and healthy pop­u­la­tions of buf­faloes, lions, wild dogs, leop­ards, hye­nas, chee­tahs, giraffes, hip­pos, croc­o­diles, zebras and many ante­lope species. This is bird­ing heav­en, with the con­ver­gence of East­ern and South­ern African species – result­ing in a good bird species count of over 580.