|Most recent IBA monitoring assessment|
|Year of assessment||Threat score (pressure)||Condition score (state)||Action score (response)|
|For more information about IBA monitoring please click here|
The National Park lies on the western bank of the Great Ruaha river in the rain-shadow of the Udzungwa mountains (TZ066), which lie some 80 km to the south-east. The western boundary is formed by the Rungwa Game Reserve. The site is largely a dry habitat southern extension of the Masai steppe. Average annual rainfall is only about 520 mm, making it one of the driest protected areas in Tanzania. The Great Ruaha river runs for 130 km along the south-eastern boundary and is perennial, drying out only in the driest of years. The southern and western areas of the park are mainly miombo woodland dominated by Brachystegia. This grades into Commiphora–Combretum woodland in the north-east with extensive areas of Terminalia- and Adansonia-dominated plains in the central areas.
See Box and Table 3 for key species. Some 410 species have been recorded for the park, but this figure is almost certainly incomplete as only the main tourist areas are well known. This total includes seven species of the Zambezian biome (see Table 3). Ruaha holds important populations of two Tanzanian endemics of the dry central plateau—both Cosmopsarus unicolor and Agapornis personatus are reasonably common. Large flocks of Ciconia ciconia and Ciconia abdimii frequent the park when conditions are suitable and especially on passage. In the past, significant numbers of Falco eleonorae occurred, but there are few recent records.
Non-bird biodiversity: A large population of elephant Loxodonta africana (EN) occurs, but the population of rhino Diceros bicornis (CR) was wiped out by poachers during the early 1980s. An important population of Lycaon pictus (EN) is present and there are large populations of Tragelaphus strepiceros (LR/cd) and T. imberbis (LR/cd). A small remnant herd of Hippotragus equinus (LR/cd) occurs and H. niger (LR/cd) is not uncommon in the miombo woodland. The park represents the southern limit of the tortoise Malacochersus tornieri (VU), an East African endemic.
BirdLife International (2022) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Ruaha National Park. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 01/10/2022.