This attractive park just outside Arusha is a hidden gem in northern Tanzania’s parks. Whilst most visitors flock to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, you can actually enjoy relatively quiet game viewing in Arusha National Park, with its stunning backdrop of Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.
Arusha National Park is fairly small, and you will be able to see most of it just one day. It offers a variety of habitats from montane forest to savannah, and is home to a range of mammals including giraffe, zebra, buffalo, hyena, leopard, monkeys and hippo. One of the main geographical attractions of the park is Ngurdoto Crater which is 3km wide and 400m deep. You cannot access the crater floor but there are spectacular views from the various viewpoints around the rim. Momella Lakes is another interesting area which is home to many water birds including flamingo and pelicans.
The park is around 40km from Arusha town and can be visited as a day trip or you can stay overnight inside the park.
Mount Meru is situated inside the park and to many climbers is an attractive alternative (and a less busy one) to Kilimanjaro with the added attraction that it can be climbed in 3 days and at half the price of its bigger sibling! In its prime, Meru was the height of Kilimanjaro until part of it collapsed about a quarter of a million years ago.