Things to do
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Arusha National Park
Buffalo, giraffe and colobus monkeys range across the Momella lakes and the Ngurdoto crater on Meru's eastern flank, an easy morning from the city. Walking safaris are permitted here, which is rare on the northern circuit and changes the pace of a game drive entirely. Clear days put Kilimanjaro on the eastern horizon.
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Park
Lake Manyara National Park
Groundwater forest, then open floodplain, then a shallow alkaline lake under the wall of the Rift escarpment: the park changes habitat within a short drive. Flamingos gather on the water in numbers that rise and fall with its depth, and the tree climbing lions are sighted rarely enough to be worth no expectation. A half day covers the circuit from the gate and back.
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Mount Meru
Tanzania's second peak rises inside Arusha National Park and takes three or four days on the Momella route, with an armed ranger required because the lower forest holds buffalo. The final ridge is narrow and exposed, walked in the dark for a sunrise with Kilimanjaro floating to the east. Many climb it as acclimatisation in the week before Kilimanjaro.
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Ngorongoro Crater
A collapsed volcano holds a caldera floor of grass, soda lake and forest where lion, elephant, hippo and one of the last populations of black rhino live year round inside the walls. Descent is by permitted vehicle on a one way track, with a time limit on the floor. Morning light and mist on the rim make the early descent worth the alarm.
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Olduvai Gorge
Hominin fossils and stone tools found in the eroding walls of this gorge on the edge of the Ngorongoro highlands pushed human origins back by more than a million years. A small museum on the rim explains the layers and holds casts of the finds. Most arrive as a stop on the road to Serengeti, which is about how long it warrants.
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Park
Serengeti National Park
Grass plains run unbroken to the Kenyan border, carrying close to two million wildebeest and zebra on an annual circuit that follows the rain. Calving happens in the south around February, and the river crossings in the north come later in the year. Distances inside the park are vast, which is why many fly in to one of the airstrips.
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Park
Tarangire National Park
Baobabs stand over a river valley that draws elephant herds in their hundreds through the dry months, when the Tarangire is the only reliable water for a long way around. Pythons in the branches and a long bird list come with it. Closest of the northern parks to Arusha, it works as a first or last day.