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Nothern
Circuit!
Arusha National
Park!
The closest national
park to Arusha town – northern Tanzania’s safari capital – Arusha
National Park is a multi-faceted jewel, often overlooked by safari
goers, despite offering the opportunity to explore a beguiling
diversity of habitats within a few hours.
The entrance gate
leads into shadowy montane forest inhabited by inquisitive blue
monkeys and colourful turacos and trogons – the only place on the
northern safari circuit where the acrobatic black-and-white
colobus monkey is easily seen. In the midst of the forest stands
the spectacular Ngurdoto Crater, whose steep, rocky cliffs enclose
a wide marshy floor dotted with herds of buffalo and warthog.
Further north,
rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty of the Momela
Lakes, each one a different hue of green or blue. Their shallows
sometimes tinged pink with thousands of flamingos, the lakes
support a rich selection of resident and migrant waterfowl, and
shaggy waterbucks display their large lyre-shaped horns on the
watery fringes. Giraffes glide across the grassy hills, between
grazing zebra herds, while pairs of wide-eyed dik-dik dart into
scrubby bush like overgrown hares on spindly legs.
Although elephants
are uncommon in Arusha National Park, and lions absent altogether,
leopards and spotted hyenas may be seen slinking around in the
early morning and late afternoon. It is also at dusk and dawn that
the veil of cloud on the eastern horizon is most likely to clear,
revealing the majestic snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro, only 50km
(30 miles) distant.
But it is Kilimanjaro’s unassuming cousin, Mount Meru - the fifth
highest in Africa at 4,566 metres (14,990 feet) – that dominates
the park’s horizon. Its peaks and eastern footslopes protected
within the national park, Meru offers unparalleled views of its
famous neighbour, while also forming a rewarding hiking
destination in its own right.
Passing first
through wooded savannah where buffalos and giraffes are frequently
encountered, the ascent of Meru leads into forests aflame with
red-hot pokers and dripping with Spanish moss, before reaching
high open heath spiked with giant lobelias. Everlasting flowers
cling to the alpine desert, as delicately-hoofed klipspringers
mark the hike’s progress. Astride the craggy summit, Kilimanjaro
stands unveiled, blushing in the sunrise.
About Arusha National Park
Size: 137 sq km (53 sq miles).
Location: Northern Tanzania, northeast of Arusha town.
Getting there
An easy 40-minute drive from Arusha. Approximately 60 km (35
miles) from Kilimanjaro International Airport. The lakes, forest
and Ngurdoto Crater can all be visited in the course of a half-day
outing at the beginning or end of an extended northern safari.
What to do
Forest walks, numerous picnic sites;
three- or four-day Mt Meru climb - good acclimatisation for
Kilimanjaro.
When to go
To climb Mt Meru, June-February although it may rain in
November.
Best views of Kilimanjaro December-February.
Accommodation
A lodge, two rest houses, camp sites, two mountain huts
inside the park; two lodges at Usa River outside the park and many
hotels and hostels in Arusha town.
Top
Tarangire
National Park!
Tarangire National Park lies 120 km
south of Arusha, along The Great North Road highway, and is very
popular for day trips from the town. Tarangire offers a wide
variety of wildlife in its area of 2,600 sq. km. As in all
ecosystems, the vegetation and the types of animals you find are
closely correlated. The principal features of the park are the
flood plains and the grassland, mainly comprising of various types
of acacia trees, and a few scattered baobabs, tamarind and the
sausage trees. The Tarangire River, after which the park is named,
provides the only permanent water for wildlife in the area. When
the Maasai Steppes dry up with the end of the long rains in June,
migratory animals return to the Tarangire River, making Tarangire
National Park second only to Ngorongoro in the concentration of
wildlife. This period stretches between June and November and it
is the best season for game viewing in Tarangire.
 
The most common animals found in
the park include zebras, wildebeest, lions, leopards, waterbucks,
giraffe, elephants, gazelles, impala, gerenuk, lesser kudu and the
beautiful fringe-eared oryx. You may be lucky to spot the
tree-climbing python for which the park is famous, or the kudu and
the roan antelope which are rare species in Northern Tanzania.
Over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the Park.
lake Manyara
National Park!
Stretching for 50km
along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre high Rift Valley
escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled
by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I had seen in Africa”. The
compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers a virtual
microcosm of the Tanzanian safari experience.
 
From the entrance gate, the road
winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest
where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly along the
roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly between the ancient mahogany
trees, dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and
outsized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy.
Contrasting with the intimacy of
the forest is the grassy floodplain and its expansive views
eastward, across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue volcanic
peaks that rise from the endless Maasai Steppes. Large buffalo,
wildebeest and zebra herds congregate on these grassy plains, as
do giraffes – some so dark in coloration that they appear to be
black from a distance. Inland of the floodplain, a narrow belt of
acacia woodland is the favoured haunt of Manyara’s legendary
tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons
of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive
Kirk’s dik-dik forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are
often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of searing hot
springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore in the
far south of the park.
Manyara provides the perfect
introduction to Tanzania’s birdlife. More than 400 species have
been recorded, and even a first-time visitor to Africa might
reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one day. Highlights
include thousands of pink-hued flamingos on their perpetual
migration, as well as other large waterbirds such as pelicans,
cormorants and storks.
About Lake Manyara National Park
Size: 330 sq km (127 sq miles), of which up to 200 sq km (77 sq
miles) is lake when water levels are high.
Location: In northern Tanzania. The entrance gate lies 1.5 hours
(126km/80 miles) west of Arusha along a newly surfaced road, close
to the ethnically diverse market town of Mto wa Mbu.
Getting there
By road, charter or scheduled flight from Arusha, en route to
Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crate r.
What
to do
Game drives, canoeing when the water levels is sufficiently high.
Cultural tours, mountain bike tours, abseiling and forest walks on
the escarpment outside the park.
When
to go
Dry season (July-October) for large mammals;
wet season (November-June) for bird watching, the waterfalls and
canoeing.
Accommodation
One luxury treehouse-style camp, public bandas and campsites
inside the park.
One luxury tented camp and two lodges perched on the Rift Wall
overlooking the lake.
Several guesthouses and campsites in nearby Mto wa Mbu.
Ngorongoro
Conservation Area!
Known as "Africa's
Eden," the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to the greatest
density of wildlife found on any Tanzanian safari, It features the
world's largest unbroken caldera -- a crater formed by the
collapse of an ancient volcano. The Ngorongoro Crater spans 102
square miles encompassing grasslands, swamps, forests and lakes,
and contains approximately 25,000 large animals.
 
Safari participants
descend nearly 2,000 feet into the crater to observe large herds
of zebra, wildebeest, gazelle and their predators. You may even
see rare black rhinos grazing by the lakes. The area also contains
the Olduvai Gorge, where famed archaeologists and anthropologists
Mary and Louis Leakey discovered nearly two-million-year-old bones
and tools from what some believe were the earliest humans.
Serengeti
National Park!
An essential
destination on Tanzania safaris is Serengeti National Park, the
country’s largest and most famous reserve. With 5,700 square miles
of plains stretching as far as the eye can see, the Serengeti is
home to one of the most diverse wild animal populations on Earth.
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