Arusha National Park

Wonderful walking safari in Arusha NP

On my most recent trip to Tanzania (September 2015), the first park we visited was Arusha National Park. In the morning, we took a "regular" game drive through the park, on which we were introduced to Tanzania's wildlife slowly but surely--we saw monkeys, birds and giraffes, among others. What makes Arusha NP special for me, though, is the walking safari we took in the late afternoon the same day. For obvious reasons, you can't get very close to most animals on foot (which is a good thing, of course--I would not have wanted to be any closer to the herd of buffalos we saw from afar), but we still managed to see a pair of giraffes less than 50 m away. Walking through a national park certainly puts things into perspective, especially the size of both the park and the animals. It feels very different walking paths similar to the ones you've already driven across, and gives you a new appreciation for safaris as a whole. It also adds to the "bush vibe" of the entire country, because it feels like it's just you and the animals.

The Safari was an amazing African experience

My visit to Arusha National Park was an amazing experience and a great way to start off my trip to Tanzania! My full day safari in Arusha National Park was one of amazing landscapes and views, as well as incredible wildlife! We witnessed many different species of animals from Blue Monkeys and Baboons to giraffes and numerous birds. One of the highlights of the safari was visiting the Momela Lakes where we viewed thousands of pink flamingos. Even though Arusha National Park doesn't have the large cats such as lions and cheetahs, there are many other amazing species to witness while you are there. An amazing national park to visit for sure!

This was the only park where we say lots of blue monkeys swinging in the trees. We also spotted one group of Colobus monkeys who are only seen near/on Mt. Kilamanjaro. We saw a larger population of baboons than other parks. We were close to a group of Cape buffalo, giraffes and wart hogs. We got a 2 hour guided walking tour from the ranger there. This took us to a waterfall and he gave us good information about the animals.

Arusha walking Safari was one of the highlights for me. We were able to get quite close to a giraffe and it was incredible to see how big they really are when you are standing on the ground next to them.

Less Crowded but Plenty to See

Arusha National Park was our first destination on our two week Safari in Tanzania and Kenya. What we really liked about the park is it is smaller and less crowded than the other parks, but still had a good variety of wildlife. We were excited to see our first baboon, but then saw large groups that were fascinating to watch. We encountered our first elephants with 10 feet of the Land Cruiser. We say Colobus monkeys jumping from tree to tree and some very cute blue monkeys. We also saw a few giraffes. Didn't see any cats, but saw plenty at other locations. Arusha was fairly close to our lodge, so we got back in time to relax. We did not run into any bugs. We highly recommend Arusha.

Very quiet, lush, and green. Flamingos and giraffes highlight this park. Walking safaris available. In our walking safari - treks to waterfalls - we spent about half an hour walking literally meters away from a family of giraffes. As long as we stayed quiet, they let us accompany them before they broke off from us slowly. Surreally experience.

This was our first park we visited. The animals were further away but it was that first amazing view of a giraffe in the wild.... The flow of its walk... This was one of the prettiest of all the parks we saw -- with the trees.

People beautiful and amazing place!!!

Nice place and we enjoyed to see different animals

This was an excellent introduction to safari game driving. Excellent views of mountains.