A very beautiful and attractive national park and small in size with an area size of 552 sq km located in northern Tanzania north East of Arusha town.
The Arusha national park consists of Lakes, a Forest and a Ngurdoto crater and all of this can be visited in the course of half a day there is a range of activities that can be done in the Arusha national park including walking safaris whereby the visitor are accompanied by rangers and last for a maximum of four hours, during this time visitors will stop for a break at one of the park’s picnic sites whereby they will be able to get the view of the park.
Another great and unique activity that is done in Arusha national park and not another national park in Tanzania is a canoeing safari which allows visitors to explore the Momela lakes.
Despite its small size Arusha national park has a rich variety of wildlife including giraffes, zebra, buffalo, watchdog the black and white colobus monkey, the blue monkey, more African elephants and leopards but no lion in the park. Within the park’s three vegetation zones, many different kinds of animals can be found. Near water, reedbuck and waterbuck can be spotted, while shy Bushbuck and duiker keep to the forested parts of the park. The Mount Meru ecosystem is especially diverse and home to some large mammals such as leopards and hyenas.
The park is composed of 400 bird species, some of the birds are migratory and are present between October and April while others are permanent residents. The Momela lakes are a great place for bird watching, which hosts a large concentration of waterbirds, including flamingos. There are also a variety of Raptors which hide in the forest area.
Getting there
It is not too far from Arusha Town it’s just a 40 minutes drive from Arusha town and 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 walk, numerous picnic sites, Mt Meru climb.
