Ruma: Kenya’s remotest and most delightful park

Harold Ayodo

A trip to Ruma National Park is a breathtaking adventure for anyone out for game viewing, bird watching, hiking, or fishing.

The 140-kilometre drive from Kisumu to the only terrestrial park in Nyanza province entails sceneries of landscapes ahead of the escapade.

We set off the lakeside town via the Kisumu-Nairobi road and branched right to the Kisii Road at Ahero junction shortly after 3pm on Saturday.

Interestingly, you don’t have to reach Ruma to appreciate the beauty of the place. At Tabaka there are beautiful soap stone carvings and the landscapes, hills and valleys near Suneka are simply breathtaking.

The guesthouse stands on the Kanyamwa escarpment where the revered senior paramount chief Gor Mahia frequented.

Myth has it that Gor was a powerful magician with 22 wives and had the ability to change into wild animals. The rest of the evening was whiled away chatting, eating and taking in the gentle breeze. The night here is silent apart from the chirping of some of the 400 species of birds from the several indigenous trees.

The next morning we set off for the much-awaited game drive across the 120 square kilometres park. The park is among the least visited and is mostly frequented by visitors staying on Lake Victoria’s island lodges. The in roads are basically good but visitors would definitely need a 4x4 during the rainy seasons.

Virgin woodland

The breathtaking features of the park include its location between Kanyamwa escarpment to the southeast, Gwasi and Ruri Hills to the north. The game drive is through beautiful untouched riverine woodland and grasslands with seasonal Lambwe River running through and is backed by a magnificent escarpment and cliffs.

We drove at a modest speed of 40 kilometres per hour as the park warden, John Wambua, had warned against speeding. "Remember Ruma is a national park and wild animals have the right of way…enjoy your game drive," he had said before we left. The array of animals we stopped to admire during our drive convinced us that the park lives to its slogan, "The home of the roan antelopes, oribi and so much more…".

Endangered species

The threatened roan antelopes, which are a flagship of the park, ran for dear life as soon as we approached. Most tourists to the park – just like me – count it an achievement to see the threatened species of antelopes, which are only 52 in East and Central Africa.

The roan antelopes seem to be generally solitary animals and prefer associations with topies, impalas and Jackson’s hartbeests occasionally. This rare breed was once common in the Masai Mara and Ithanga Hills near Thika, but have since been wiped out leaving only those in Ruma. However, the Rothschild giraffes seem to be the most in terms of numbers of animals in the conservation area. You can hardly drive for more than 500 metres before seeing them eating the top of acacia trees.

Wambua recounted how locals used to trap the giraffes for game meat, using electricity wires. This greatly reduced their numbers.

We had a date with several other wild animals like the leopards, buffalos, oribis, Jackson and lelwel hartebeests and impalas. Others were bohor reedbucks, serval cats, topis, baboons, vervet monkeys, honey badgers, bush pigs and several others that we could not identify.

Historical importance

A further drive revealed open grassland and an invitation of meditation, picnics and sundowners given the peace. There are two campsites – Nyati, which is a special campsite that can be hired and the Fig Tree, which is open for the public.

There is also the Korlang’o picnic site, which has a historical significance. It is believed that the Kalenjins used it as an escape route during colonial days.

It is believed the Colonial Government would drag the Kalenjins in droves to Lambwe Valley and leave them at the mercy of the dreaded tsetse flies.

We drove back to the guesthouse for a well-deserved breakfast shortly before 10am at the verandah. We later sampled other facilities that can accommodate visitors near the park like the Rusinga Island Lodge and the Lake Victoria Safari Lodge.

Lake Victoria Safari Lodge is a treat especially to tourists who arrive by ferry from Luanda Kotieno to Mbita before proceeding to Ruma.

The lodges have sport fishing and speedboat rides that enable visitors sample the west coast of Kenya.