Arusha National Park, Tanzania

Often overlooked in favour of the more famous Tanzanian national parks, Arusha is stunningly beautiful and a very rewarding place to visit.  It offers an astounding diversity of landscape and array of wildlife just 40 minutes from Arusha town, and is the perfect beginning to a safari in Tanzania, particularly for those who enjoy hiking and trekking.

The horizon visible from Arusha National Park is jagged and mountainous.  During dawn and dusk, when the sky is a little clearer, the majestic peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro can be seen, some 50 kilometres away.  However, it is the looming Mount Meru which dominates the scene – sheer, stony and spiked, it provides the perfect dramatic backdrop to your exploration of Arusha National Park.

Although relatively small at just 137 square kilometres, there are plenty of animals to spot here.  There are bushbuck and reedbuck, always sticking close to the water, dikdiks and duikers darting between the trees and bushes, and some 400 migratory and resident bird species to be found.  Other animals which can be spotted include giraffe, buffalo, zebra, flamingo and, for the fortunate few, even leopard or hyena.  

However, where Arusha National Park really excels is in its hiking options.  A gentle 2-3 hour hike through dense rainforest, to waterfalls and verdant vegetation, will show you some of Tanzania’s most beautiful landscape.  The views over forests and lakes to Kilimanjaro are simply stunning, and the return walk along Mount Meru’s northern ridge is truly exhilarating.

For those who wish to acquaint themselves with Mount Meru a little more, there is the option to summit the hiker’s peak of this glorious mountain at Socialist Peak.   On a challenging trek to reach this peak of 4,566 metres, hikers will traverse open grassland, dense forest, towering cliffs and giant heather, maybe spotting birds, colobus monkey, buffalo and warthog along the way.  This is one of the most challenging and exhilarating mountain hikes in Africa, and well worth the effort for the determined hiker.

Photos of Arusha National Park