20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A wonderful variety of wildlife and habitats with many opportunities for close encounters!
Arusha national park is only a short drive from Arusha itself and is a great introductory day for your safari trip. Whilst smaller than a lot of the other game reserves you may visit Arusha offers a fantastic range of wildlife and habitats; from rainforest to open grass planes and lakes. If you are interested in birds then Arusha is a paradise of abundance and my personal highlights include a crested eagle, hoopoe, kingfishers (nesting by the road), grey crowned cranes and of course the thousands of flamingo.
In terms of animals there is also a huge range of things you can see in a very beautiful setting. Of particular interest would be the beautiful black and white colobus monkeys that you are unlikely to see elsewhere. You will also see many troops of baboons, giraffe, buffalo as well as a variety of antelope.
Whilst the tour of Arusha is mostly driven, there is the opportunity to take a walking tour, which i think is worth it. You will get closer to some of the wildlife and see more of the beautiful landscape.
All in all it is definately worth a visit to Arusha national park. You will see all of the park in a day so its just a quick trip before you depart for the larger reserves such as Tarangire or the Serengeti,
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A close encounter with another world
I was extremely impressed with the wildlife and how close one could get to nature in its purest form.There is a wide range of animal species and my encounter was a real close up one.The guided tours are well organized and the guide provided a lot of information about the species and park.The weather was great for it being a winters month and if you looking for food they got reasonably priced restaurants.
NO
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Safari near Johannesburg
Me and a friend stayed at Kwa Moritaine for a weekend and enjoyed two safari rides, one morning ride (with the sunset) and one during daytime. If you only have time for one safari join the morning one. The mornings is the best time to spot the animals. Except for leopard we saw all the "big five" in addition to lots of other antelopes, zebras. Our guide was very talented and knowledgeable. He could answer any question we threw at him.
The highlights of the safari was seeing lions in the wild (2 adult, 4 cubs) and a one day old elephant calf. This experience was priceless!
As for the accomodation Kwa Moritaine was a beautiful resort with excellent food and great service. Can absolutely recommend.
NZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Chobe Safari
an excellent experience
staff very knowledgeable and accommodating
both land and river activities were awesome - soooo many photos
An amazing place to experience safari
With the Ngorogoro crater being the star attraction, it would be easy to overlook Lake Manyara for a safari. However, thankfully, we didn't and had an amazing time there.
We saw a wide range of wildlife such as Elephants, Babboons, Sea Eagles, Kingfishers as well as Flamingo's which the park is famous for.
The scenery in the park varies. When you enter, you travel through forest but once you reach the viewpoints over the lake, the land stretches on for miles over open plains.
We were there in August and the temperature was moderate (mid 20's) so pleasant enough without being unbearable.
The park is less crowded than Ngorogoro which means that it feels a little more personal.
If you only had one day to do a safari, would I pick Lake Manyara?.....well probably not because Ngorogoro is deservedly one of the most incredible places I've visited. However, don't overlook Manyara; you'll have a different but amazing time there too.
Review about Serengeti National Park by Don Petersen
Its the Serengeti what else should I say. You should visit this park. You have the chance to see most of the large game, birds, the lot. The accommodations were great, people are wonderful. Take a morning ballon ride over the Serengeti it is worth the trip...
Review about Ngorongoro Crater by Don Petersen
Beautiful park and the chance to see rhinos. Amazing sunsets, and wonderful accommodations.
Review about Lake Manyara National Park by Don Petersen
Accommodations overlooking the great rift valley wonderful views. The park has the chance to see a lot of wildlife, and from a scenery standpoint is average. This was were we started our game drives. Worth visiting, but not my favorite location.
My Favorite park in Tanzania
This park has a great scenery, and wonderful wildlife. I would have enjoyed spending more time in this park over a few others we visited. Our group also visited Serengeti, Lake Manyara, and Ngoro Ngoro Crater and thought Tarangire was our favorite. The accommodations were very nice, and our guide Alfred was the gem of our trip. He was very knowable on the wildlife and was a part of the family by the end of our 7 day safari. In Tarangire were able to see the leopards very close up and that was quite a treat. The elephants on the plain were wonderful against the back drop of great mountains and Boabab trees. I would recommend visiting Tarangire to anyone traveling to Tanzania.