Located just a short drive from Arusha Town, lies the national park with that bears the same name. Arusha National Park is the most accessible national park of the Northern Circuit in Tanzania and the perfect place for a day trip or as the first ór last stop on a longer itinerary. At just 552 square kilometres, Arusha NP is a small park with a lot to see. Arusha National park is divided between three districts: Momella Lakes, Mount Meru & the Ngurdoto Crater. Depending on the time of year you can spot thousands of flamingo’s at Momella Lakes, who migrate between Lake Manyara and here.
With diverse wildlife that includes herbivores such as elephants, hippos, buffalo, zebra, and even the occasional wildebeest, Arusha National Park is also a perfect place to get out and stretch your legs – with both walking safaris and canoe safaris available within the park.
The National Park is also home to the world’s largest population of giraffes, making it a great place to visit for fans of these long-necked, beautiful animals.
Tarangire National Park is one of the most renowned national parks of the northern circuit in Tanzania. It´s famous for its large herds of massive elephants and huge, ancient baobab trees. In fact, Tarangire is home to some of world’s largest elephants.
Tarangire National Park is often visited in combination with Serengeti or Ngorongoro. Unlike these parks, Tarangire lies relatively close to Arusha and is also the only national park in the area where you can spot a large variety of animals, including many predators. This makes Tarangire the perfect national park for a daytrip as well.
It’s also a quite large the national park and covers an area of approximately 2,850 square kilometers (1,100 square miles.) Tarangire National Park derived its name from the long serving river that crosses the park in the middle called the ‘Tarangire River’. The river acts as the primary source of water for wildlife in the park, which is also one of the reasons of the large variety in the parks ecosystem.
Lake Manyara National Park is one of the smaller parks of the Northern Circuit in Tanzania. The foresty park is filled with colourful birds, curious monkeys and many other animals hidden amongst the trees. It’s most famous for its tree-climbing lions and large flocks of pink flamingo’s.
The national park is named after the lake; Lake Manyara, which makes up the majority of the park. The lake covers an area of about 230 km2 (89 sq mi) of the total of 325 km2 (125 sq mi). Even though the park is small, it has an interesting variety of diverse landscapes. From thick woodlands and groundwater forests to extensive swamps where hippo’s love to feast day and night. Compared to the other national parks in the area, Lake Manyara National Park is by far the greenest of them all.
Once an impressive vulcano, now an ancient natural wonder. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest un-flooded and unbroken caldera in the world. Its size is about 20 km across and its walls reach a dept of 600 meters. This three-million-year-old caldera now shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens on earth. Here you may find the most dense population of wildlife on earth.Due to its unique features, the Ngorongoro Crater is officially recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the ‘7 official Wonders of Africa’.
The Ngorongoro Crater is home to many animals, both prey and predator. Since the Ngorongoro Crater is a relatively small and flat area of about 20 square kilometers, wildlife can easily be spotted. This makes the Ngorongoro Crater the ideal spot to finalise your ‘Big 5 list’. Especially if you still have the endangered black rhino, as chances of spotting one are the highest here!
Serengeti National Park is probably the world’s most famous national park. It’s known for it’s great plains and huge population of predators, especially lions. On top of that, Serengeti is home to one of the largest annual animal migrations on our planet; the great wildebeest migration.
The Great Migration is the annual migration of wildebeest, along with other grazers such as zebra’s and gazelles. Each year they migrate from the Ndutu region of the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, through the great plains of Serengeti National Park, to the Maasai Mara in southern Kenya.
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