Arusha National Park

A little gem!

I was in TZ to do the Northern Circuit but read somewhere that Arusha NP was worth a visit, so I arrived a couple of days early and was given a private full day tour here. It was well worth it. If you are not desperate to tick those five boxes or you've already done it, then come here. It is small so a day is enough. One thing that surprised me which I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere was the butterflies, lots of them, large and vividly coloured. And, you have most environments in a small area, mountain, crater, forest, plains and lakes. Also, you can get quite close to the flamingos, which you can't in places like Ngorongoro. Lots of giraffe, buck, etc, and of course those gorgeous, b+w Collobus monkeys. Not dramatic or awe inspiring just totally charming.

Arusha National Park is one of the smaller parks. The scenery is astounding. This park was our introduction to safari and our first glimpse of the wonders to come.

Arusha was the first park we went to. It was definitely one of the most beautiful, but we only saw herbivores.

Arusha NP was disappointing. The other parks in Tanzania were amazing!

Arusha National Park was the first National Park we visited. This was probably just as well as all the wildlife we saw was new and interesting to us. It was also relatively close to our Lake Duluti accommodations. As a photographer I did take a lot of images of Bush Bucks, Water Bucks, Cranes, flamingos, some giraffes and many baboons (who are everywhere). However, you will not see any large predators or for that many any of the Big Five. The park is surrounded by farmers who have hunted or at least cleared out all the large predators. Compared with the other parks it was a great disappointment. If I were to do the trip again, I would skip Arusha NP and spend an extra day at Ngorongoro Crater which was exceptional.

Thus park is smaller and heavily forested so it was fun to see in comparison to the parks with more grasses. The trees do make it a bit more difficult to spot wildlife.

A Boutique Park

This was a great Park to start in, considering some slight jet lag we were dealing with. It’s a small park in comparison to most others, but hasn’t any of the main predators in it like lions, leopard and hyena BUT this means all the animals we did see were quite relaxed with our presence

Wildlife highlights here included the very beautiful black & white but shy Colobus monkeys with their long fluffy white tails. Around one of the lakes in the park was an abundance of Lesser Pink Flamingoes constantly feeding and also some of our favourite birds, the African Fish Eagle. There were numerous large and very confident ‘tribes’ of baboons, which would happily sit very close to our vehicle and the baby baboons kept us very amused with their playful antics. There are also quite shy Blue Monkeys and plenty of zebra, giraffe and buffalo.

Our accommodation outside the Park near Arusha was fabulous!

Nice, nice, nice

Beautiful and lush, loved this park! Lower number of game to see, but we were never disappointed - still saw lots of wildlife.

Monkeying about in Arusha National Park

Arusha National Park is a small park close to the town of Arusha and Kilimanjaro Airport. While it boasts a rich variety of wildlife, you shouldn't expect the same game-viewing experience you will find in other national parks of Tanzania's northern circuit. It does have numerous black-and-white colobus monkey which are easily visible and are not found in the other parks. Common animals include giraffe, buffalo, zebra, bushbuck and warthog. In the northeast, the shallow alkaline Momella Lakes provide habitat for numerous species of water birds including Lesser and Greater Flamingo. Forest birds require work to see but experienced birders may be rewarded for their efforts. This park can be by-passed if on a tight schedule and or budget. I rate thes park Poor for wildlife photography.

It's a solid park and easy to fit in with any travel plans that pass through Arusha. There are definitely better parks in Tanzania.