Ruaha River Lodge

Ruaha River Lodge is a 24-chalet lodge strung along a rocky stretch of the Great Ruaha River, in southern Ruaha National Park, far from the crowds of the Northern Tanzanian safari circuit. For two decades, before Tanzania opened up to international tourism, Ruaha River Lodge was the only camp in what's now Ruaha National Park, and it still holds the best position in the park, wrapped around a bend of the Great Ruaha River among a scatter of rocky kopjes. Run by three generations of the Fox family, the lodge's stone-and-thatch bandas line the riverbank closely enough that hippos, crocodiles and elephants pass right by the verandas; leopard and lion kills have both been watched from a banda.

Go on morning and afternoon game drives through Ruaha's dry, baobab-studded landscape, one of Tanzania's largest and least-visited parks. Take a guided walk along the riverbank with an armed ranger, tracking prints in the sand left by the previous night's traffic. The lodge's public spaces are split across two sites: a riverside bar and dining area at water level, and a second lounge built into the rocks of a kopje. A pool sits between the two, shaded by tamarind trees.