Arusha National Park

Arusha National Park , although one of Tanzania's smallest parks, is one of its most beautiful and most topographically varied. Its main features include Ngurdoto Crater (often dubbed Little Ngorongoro) and the Momela Lakes to the east. To the west is beautiful Mt Meru. The two areas are joined by a narrow strip, with Momela Gate at its centre. The park's altitude, which varies from 1500m to more than 4500m, has a variety of vegetation zones supporting numerous animal species.

Ngurdoto Crater is surrounded by forest, while the crater floor is a swamp. West of the crater is Serengeti Ndogo (Little Serengeti), an extensive area of open grassland and the only place in the park where herds of Burchell's zebras can be found.

The Momela Lakes, like many in the Rift Valley, are shallow and alkaline and attract a wide variety of wader birds, particularly flamingos. The lakes are fed by underground streams; due to their varying mineral content, each lake supports a different type of algal growth, which gives them different colours. Bird life also varies quite distinctly from one lake to another, even where they are only separated by a narrow strip of land. Mt Meru is a mixture of lush forest and bare rock with a spectacular crater.

Animal life in the park is abundant. You can be fairly certain of sighting zebras, giraffes, waterbucks, reedbucks, klipspringers, hippos, buffaloes, elephants, hyenas, mongooses, dik-diks, warthogs, baboons and vervet and colobus monkeys, despite dense vegetation in some areas. You may even catch sight of the occasional leopard. There are no lions, and no rhinos due to poaching.

While tour companies often relegate the park to a day trip, it's better to allow at least a night or two to appreciate the wildlife and do a walking or canoe safari.

The main park entrance is at Ngongongare Gate, about 10km from the main road, while park headquarters - the main contact for making camp site or resthouse reservations and for arranging guides and porters to climb Mt Meru - are about 14km further in near Momela Gate. There is another entrance at Ngurdoto Gate, on the southeastern edge of the park. All gates are open from 06:00 to 18:00. Walking is permitted on the Mt Meru side of the park, and there is also a walking trail along part of the Ngurdoto Crater rim (though it's not permitted to descend either on foot or in a vehicle to the crater floor).

The best map of the park is the MaCo Arusha National Park map, widely available in Arusha. Transport from Arusha can be arranged with all of the lodges (about US$100 per vehicle for a drop, and up to double this for an all-inclusive one-day safari). If you arrive at the park without your own vehicle, most of the lodges can arrange wildlife-viewing drives for guests from about US$70 per day, transport only. If you arrive with your own vehicle and want to climb Mt Meru, you can leave it at Momela Gate (where you will have to pay standard park fees) or, less expensively, at Momella Wildlife Lodge.

Once in the park, there's a good series of gravel roads and tracks leading to all the main features and viewing points. Most are suitable for all vehicles, though some of the tracks get slippery in the rainy season, and a few areas are accessible only with 4WD. From Hatari Lodge, it's possible to continue via a rough track that joins the main Nairobi highway near Longido.

Via public transport, there's a daily bus between Arusha and Ngare Nanyuki village (10km north of Momela Gate) that departs Arusha at about 13:00 and Ngare Nanyuki at 07:00, and can drop you at the park gate (around TSh2000, 1½ hours). Otherwise, you could take any bus between Arusha and Moshi, and get off at Usa River village, 1km east of the park junction. From Usa River there are sporadic pick-ups that run most days through the park en route to Ngare Nanyuki. However, unless you've arranged with one of the lodges for pick-up, these options won't do you much good as the park doesn't rent vehicles. If you're planning on trekking Mt Meru, there is no onward park transport from Ngongongare Gate, where you need to pay entry fees, to Momela Gate, 14km further on, where you need to arrange your guide and pay your mountain-climbing fees. Walking along this road isn't permitted, and hitching is normally very slow.