Arusha National Park

After the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater, nothing could compare.

The main interests of Arusha NP is game walking and the flamingoes at Big Momela lake

More people than animals!

Park is underwhelming

the park was not big. only saw giraffe, few monkeys, flamingos, and some zebras.

Arusha National Park is a green paradise

I have been in Arusha National Park several times, and the park never disappoints me. Of course it depends on what you are looking for. Arusha National Park is not comparable to Serengeti, Tarangire and other parks in Tanzania. But the park is great in its own way. There are, they say no big cats in the park ... but I have actually seen a leopard once crossing the road upp the mountain. The park sits on the eastern slopes of Mt Meru and you can drive upp quite high upp almost beyond the tree limit. Also the park features walking safari and canoeing. The later I have not tested but I can recommend the walking safari. Both in the lowlands walking to a water fall. And upp in the mountain ... (you need a guide with a gun on the walking safari). The park have both rainforests and small grass plains. You will I can almost promise you see buffalo, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, flamingo, and two different kinds of monkey (not counting baboon) - the blue monkey and the colobus monkey. I do not know about accommodations today. But there are a lot of hotels close to the park. Arusha national Park was one of our usual day trip from where we used to live when I lived in Tanzania. So I really love the park. This time it was also a day trip and it was the first time for me with a safari company - Mlimani Safaris Africa. And I can recommend them to. So my conclusion is. If you are visiting Arusha for other purposes than Safari (business / conferences) and do not have time for a long safari. Arusha National Park is the place to go. If you have been in the other bigger parks and are tired of big plains and dusty roads, but still wants some wildlife and nature experience. This is the place to go. Or if you like the shade of a jungle. Don't miss Arusha National Park.

Arusha is a lovely half day spent before starting safari. This is only park in Tanzania to see the beautiful bkack and white Colobus Monkey.

Small but plenty - but no big cats

We visited as a day trip between Moshi and Arusha while on a business trip, and for this purpose - to get a short glimpse into the Wildlife - this park is perfect. It takes less than an hour to drive there, and you do not necessarily need a 4WD. Entrance fees are lower than in Serengeti and there is plenty of accommodation within half an hours drive.

It is also refreshingly uncroweded. We were there quite lat,e but there were one, maybe two other vehicles, and other than by Momella Lake, we were on our own. Roads tend to be dirt, and ther eis a lot of grass and bush on the side, which makes animal spotting a little harder. After a while (when you come from the main entrance off the main Moshi Highway) the scenery will change alot - first you'll be rewarded with magnificient views of Mount Meru, then you get pictures like in an Africa storybook - complete with giraffes and zebras.

This may not be the park where you get close to a lot of animals, but it feels like you can view them in their natural habitat withour driving right through it, and this makes it somehow more authentic.

Last not least it has Momella Lakes, breeding place of thousands of flamingoes - this is quite unique in Tanzania, maybe even Africa, and although you can take the long drive to Lake Natron, there is nothing that makes the experience superior there.

We saw flamingos, giraffes zebras, buffalo, gazelles, monkeys and lots of unnamed birds aplenty. Sometimes you may spot an elephant, but there are definitely no big cats here.

In summary, this is a small but fine NAtional Park with good infrastructure, easily visited as a daytrip.

Not as open as Serengeti and Ngorongoro makes the park more hard spotting wildlife and wildlife is far from abundant. However scenery is excellent with mount Meru and Mt. Kilimandjaro in the background.

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.