When landing at the airstrip in Ruaha National Park we saw elephants, giraffes and zebras on our way down. It was the most breathtaking landing that we have ever experienced (on the positive side!). The transfer to the Ruaha River Lodge took about 40 minutes (40 beautiful minutes!). We were welcomed on arrival by Mette (the site manager from Denmark). Mette was fully updated on the fact that one in our family had special needs regarding food (gluten free) and that was managed by the lodge in a very good way during our stay.
We were installed in two houses (bandas) since we are a family of five. There are one double and one single bed in the bandas with the possibility of an extra bed. The bandas are placed 15 meters from the river and we had an excellent view overlooking hippos, crocodiles, elephants, baboons, zebras from our veranda (not at the same time though). The windows are mosquito nets, not glass, so you her quite well what’s happening at night and when the hippos decides to roar, then it is a bit of a struggle to sleep. The electricity is on from 6-10 pm. The water comes from the river and is therefore far from fit for drinking. It actually smells a bit funny, but on the other hand, what can be expected out in the wilderness? The water was a bit error prone for some of our fellow guests. An elephant damaged some of the plumbing…. The rooms are equipped with safety deposit, and if the weather for drying is good, then you’ll get laundry done over the day. After dark you are not supposed to go out by yourself due to the risk of meeting a hippo. A massai will come and fetch you for dinner and accompany you back afterwards. The food at the lodge was really good.
We went for three full days in the jeep plus a short tour on the day of arrival and the day we left. The guide (Frank in our case) and the driver (Ben) were doing an excellent job. They had a vast knowledge that the shared willingly. They absolutely did what could be done to make the experience a memorable one. We stayed in Ruaha during New Year in the beginning of the rain season, meaning that the landscape was very green and fresh. It was so beautiful! The grass was still quite short though (not in the line of sight…). The rain season is supposed to be worse from an animal spotting point of view when the traffic to the waterholes is not so intense. Anyway, we are quite happy indeed with the amount of animals. We saw lots of impalas, zebras, elephants, giraffes and hippos. We saw lions, crocodiles, jackal, baboons and vervet monkeys several times. Once we saw a cheetah and once we saw ostriches. And we saw lots and lots of birds. A baby giraffe with a hurt leg that we saw one day was the day after lying under a bush together with a lioness and her cubs.

We stayed with friends at the River Lodge for 3 nights & had cabin 4 - right by the Ruaha River. From the balcony we watched hippo, crocodiles and the occasional elephant, impala, giraffe and baboons come down to drink. You are so close that after 7.30 pm you have to be escorted back to your room after dinner by a Masai warrior, in case of coming across a curmudgeonally hippo or croc. Once in your rooms for the night, you are encouraged not to leave them because of the dangers.

The trek up to the main restaurant/bar is quite steep and could prove difficult for older guests. However, the view across the river from the bar was great.
There was another restaurant used for guests in other rooms without the steep walk. It depends where your room is positioned.

We thought the rooms were well appointed ( if a little worn) and food more than adequate - particularly given the remoteness of the lodge to any major town.

Power in the rooms only runs from 6.30pm to 10.30pm - so (like a lot of Africa) it is worth investing in head torches if you need the toilet during the night! Given the early start, we normally treated the loss of power as the time to go to sleep, in any case. So no big deal.

The lodge could arrange game drives and experienced guides, but it is worth booking in advance of your trip. We used our own 4 wheel drive cars to go around the park, but hired a hotel guide to take us around at a very reasonable cost. It is definitely worth having a guide as they keep in contact with eachother where the animals have been spotted. Ruaha Nationql park is huge!

Payment was in cash. Take plenty of dollars, or bricks of Tanzanian shillings.

Spent 3 nights in late September 2011. Luxurious room, good food including decent vegetarian fare upon request. The late afternoon light on the Great Ruaha River from our porch was fabulous. The managers were solicitous and helpful. We had our own driver/guide/protector so did not experience RRL's safaris. Now understand why some Africans call the dry season the hunger time. The elephants were eating trees and the other grazers, dry dry grass. There was still some flow in the river but all the tributaries were dry.

Accommodations, staff, service was wonderful. Daily trips to view animals was outstanding.. Couldn't believe we would view so many species ...informed, helpful guides and drivers.