The Ruaha River provides the lifeblood of this area of amazing biodiversity, sustaining massive Nile crocodiles, pods of hippo, huge numbers of elephant, and an abundance of giraffe, zebra, impala and other herbivores, which in turn support a healthy predator population – prides of lion numbering 20 or more are not uncommon. Over ten per cent of the world's lion population live in the Greater Ruaha eco-system, which also supports the world's third largest population of wild dogs and one of the few sustainable cheetah populations left in East Africa.