Ruma National Park
WHERE IS RUMA NATIONAL PARK?
Ruma National Park is located in Homa Bay County of Western Kenya.
TRAVEL COMPANIONS
Rikki, Marissa, & Seamus 😊
MY FAVORITES
Seeing all of the animals on a game drive!
CURRENCY Kenyan Shillings (KSH)
Currently, 1 USD is 130 KSH. Visit this link to see the most up to date conversion.
BUDGET
Around $200 for 2 nights, 2 days, and one game drive. This cost would be for one person, so you can divide that cost if there are more people traveling with you. This cost also goes down if you stay at the tent campsite instead of the KWS cabin.
TIME OF VISIT
End of February – Kenyan Half Term Break
WEATHER
We experienced Ruma National Park during the dry season. The temperatures get very cool at night and are very hot during the day. If you tent camp, be prepared for these colder night temperatures and bring a sleeping bag.
CLOSEST MAJOR AIRPORT Kisumu International Airport (KIA)
You will likely fly into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) in Nairobi because KIA does not accept many (if any) international flights anymore. Flights from NBO to KIA are anywhere from $60-100.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
In order to enter Kenya, you must have a Yellow Fever vaccination as well as a tourist visa. You most likely won’t be able to get your Yellow Fever vaccination from your primary care physician but they can refer you to an office that specializes in specific vaccinations. You may want to consider taking antimalarial medication prior, during, and after your stay. Your primary care physician can prescribe or refer you to someone who can prescribe these. For the visa, it is done through an electronic travel application through the link here. For most up to date information, visit the US Department of State website for visiting Kenya.
TRANSPORT
I used local transport to reach the park, but I would recommend booking transport to the park through Kenya Wildlife Service or another tour group. I know someone who used Carlfonia Tours and enjoyed the convenience of being picked up in Kisumu and said the tour went well.
PACKING LIST
sunscreen - dry wicking pants and tops - sunglasses - hat - closed toe shoes
ACCOMMODATION KWS Cabin or Tent Camping
My group tent camped and loved the accommodations provided at the site. We also visited the KWS Cabin and I would definitely have stayed here if I knew it was an option. You can book their cabin through the KWS website.
FOOD
Whether you decide to stay in the cabin or tent camp, you will want to carry in your own food. At the front of the park there is a small shop with water, sodas, and basic food like flour. Anything else you will want to pack with you.
LANGUAGE Kiswahili & English
Since the KWS employees are from all over Kenya, they will be most proficient in Kiswahili and English. You will have an easy time conversing with anyone you meet at the park or on tour.
DAILY ACTIVITY BLOG
Day 1 THURSDAY
Marissa and I woke up at 5AM so we could pack up our last minute items and close up my house before leaving at 6AM. Babu, my host brother, then drove us to the Kamito waterbus which departed for Homa Bay at 7AM. We watched a nice sunrise then spent the next three and a half hours on the boat. Overall, it was a nice ride. It was also great to finally see the Homa Bay mountains that I have been seeing from my school. In Homa Bay town, we went to Mum’s CK for lunch. Rikki and Seamus met us here. I enjoyed some beans and chapati along with chips masala. We then went to the grocery store to purchase our camping food before finding a means to get to Malela. After an hour of searching and bargaining, we found a probox that could take us there. We arrived in Malela about an hour behind schedule. This was a bit worrisome because we still had a two and a half hour walk ahead of us to get to the Kamato Gate of Ruma National Park. On our walk, Seamus strapped our bags and water onto his bike to make the carrying weight less. About an hour into our walk it was 6PM so it was looking like we were not going to make it to the park entrance by dark. This was a slight problem. Just as we started to worry, a car came driving down the road behind us. They slowed down and we chatted with them. It turned out they were with the Canadian Embassy and were on vacation. They were nice enough to give me, Rikki, and Marissa a ride while Seamus biked the rest of the way there. When we arrived to the entrance gate, Rikki worked with the gate employee to pay for our campsite. This process was made easier because all of us had our resident cards. When Seamus pulled in with his bike, we were then able to head to our campsite. We set up our tents, watched the sunset, and cooked dinner. For dinner, we made walking tacos (rice, tomatoes, onions, avocados, all on top of a bag of chips). They were delicious. After dinner, I started pulling out/organizing things in my bag and realized the milk bag had exploded. This was really unfortunate and I had to use a lot of wipes to clean up. We were able to hang a lot of the affected gear outside. After this small fiasco, we spent some time star gazing which was great. Marissa and I saw a few shooting stars which was very exciting. After this, it was time for bed. The camping facilities were pretty nice! The bathroom cho was tiled and had toilet paper. There was also an outdoor sink that was great for washing kitchen things and taking a minimal shower. I used the outdoor water to wash up and brush my teeth before getting in the tent for bed. I cozied up under a sweatshirt and sleeping bag because it got cool here at night which was very exciting.
Day 2 (FRIDAY)
I slept well and woke up with the sunrise around 6:30AM. We made breakfast sandwiches, got dressed for the day, and headed to the front gate around 7:30AM. Here, we met with our safari driver, John, and headed out on our adventure. We saw a herd of giraffes almost immediately. They were beautiful. They looked like they are floating when they ran. We all mentioned how out of all the animals we saw today, the giraffes acted the most different in the wild. We continued driving into the valley where we saw zebra, water buffalo, rhinoceros, and Roan antelope. The Roan antelope are what Ruma National Park is known for. There are only 19 Kenyan Roans left and they’re all found here. The park has been experimenting ways to increase their population but their main challenge right now is lack of genetic diversity. Recently, they attempted to bring over Tanzanian Roans, but all but two of these antelopes survived. They think that the nighttime temperatures were too cold but they are still trying to figure out why the remaining two survived. In the park, we also noticed areas where they had done a few controlled burns to attract the animals into the valley to create space for fires from outside the park so the entire park doesn’t go up in flames. Our safari ended around noon. We were able to drop Marissa off at the tarmac so she could go into Kisumu then we continued back to our campsite. We got cold sodas at the park entrance before relaxing and eating a lunch of sandwiches, apples, and popcorn. We then rested and set up our enos before baking bread in the campfire. Our loaves turned out delicious. I then took a nap in my eno before we played uno. After uno, we were getting ready to make dinner when we noticed flames coming up over the hill next to us. We quickly realized this was a wildfire that was big and moving towards us quickly. We grabbed our bags of essentials and left everything else. We could feel the heat off of the fire as we quickly moved to the park entrance. We waited at the park entrance for a few hours trying to determine our next best move. Thankfully, the Canadian Embassy couple was still around the park and they came to get us. They let us stay in their cabin which was very nice, had enough rooms for us, and was out of the path of the fire. They gave us the rest of their snacks they had because they didn’t need them tomorrow and we were so grateful to have some yummy crackers, cheese, and chocolate, all things we rarely eat here. The cabin had a nice outdoor patio that we sat on to watch the wildfire move from a safe distance. The best part of the night was ending it with a hot shower and a cozy bed to sleep in.
Day 3 (SATURDAY)
The Canadians left by 7AM so we had the cabin to ourselves in the morning. We enjoyed the oatmeal and bananas they left us on the patio while watching the fire continue to burn. We packed our things and headed back to the park entrance. Thankfully, the fire did not reach the campsite so we were able to pack up our tents and other personal items and walk out. We then hitched a ride with the Kenya Wildlife Service car out to the tarmac. We were smushed in the back of this car with 14 of their employees. In Malela, I got off the ride and got lucky because I was able to get on an Ena Coach bus that was heading to Mbita. This ride was quick and I wasn’t smushed in with a bunch of other people like I would’ve been in a matatu. In Mbita, I enjoyed a cold soda and a granola bar (a Canadian gift to us) before boarding the waterbus to Luanda Kotieno. I then got on a matatu to Aram. I got back around 4PM and did some grocery shopping before walking back to my house. At the house, I unpacked and made spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce for dinner.
