|
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 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.
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.
 
The park is also one of the best
places on the continent to view lion prides. Safari guests traverse the
Serengeti in four-wheel-drive vehicles to spot buffaloes, cheetahs, leopards,
rhinos and more. For breathtaking sights of the game as they stir at dawn, an
early morning hot-air balloon ride over the plains.
Top
|
MENUS 
