Tanzania National Parks – When you think of safaris in Africa, one of the destinations that pop up will be Tanzania. Safaris in Tanzania like most countries are divided into circuits. Tanzania has the Northern and Southern Circuits.
It’s always good that a traveler to Tanzania considers one of the circuits as the country is very big.
You can however do both circuits but you have to have a big budget as the number of days will be high as the drive distances are long and therefore you may need to fly in some cases.
Most safaris in Tanzania will end their safari with a stay at the island of Zanzibar to relax.
Northern Tanzania Safari
This circuit includes the Serengeti National Park, Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro conservation area, Kilimanjaro Mountains, and Lake Manyara National park. This circuit is characterized with big game and spectacular views. The main gate way to this circuit is Arusha
Southern Tanzania Safari
The southern circuits have the Mikumi national Park, Nyerere National Park which was known as the Selous Game Reserve, the Ruaha National Park. The Main gate way to this circuit is the Dar es Salaam area.
Arusha National Park
Arusha National Park is one of the smallest with a total area of about 322 square kilometers. While on a tour in the northern circuit of the Tanzania safari. The Arusha national Park is Popular for the one days trip. This park gives stunning view of the Mountain Meru. This park is one of the smallest in Tanzania but its home to the ash cones and summit of the mountain Meru, there is also Lake Momela and the Ngurdoto Crater. The Momela late give visitors are laid back type of game viewing with animals including the Colobus monkeys that keep playing at the canopy of the forested area here.
The hike to the Meru Mountains can also begin here as the national park is at the slopes of this mountain. The trek to the summit of mountain Meru can take about three days. The hike is quieter compared to the one on Kilimanjaro of course due to the less traffic here. There is an alternative route via the Kilimanjaro Mountain.
Gombe Stream National Park
This park is best known for the Jane Goodall’s chimpanzee studies. It covers just an area of about 52 square kilometers and it’s located in a remote area in the North West side of the Country. You can trek the forest in the morning or afternoon to search for the chimpanzees that have been habituated. There is a presence of other primates as well.
Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park is also relatively small and it covers an area of about 325 square Kilometers. This national park is well known for the special tree climbing lions that are not anywhere else in Tanzania.
The park has a variety of vegetation zones since it is located at the edge of the Right valley. Lake Manyara National Park is located in the Arusha area of Tanzania.
It derives its name from Lake Manyara which is at the center of this national park. The Lake covers an area of about 230 Square Kilometers and this covers more than three quarters of the total area of the National park.
Lake Manyara National park was basically first gazetted in the yearr 1960 and it is home to very beautiful landscapes that are a mixture of rocks, plains and Valleys.
This national park is known for being home to Flamingoes and tree climbing lions. It also has a large concentration of elephants.
Mahale Mountains National Park
This national park covers an area of about 1,577 square kilometers. It’s located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika which is one of the deepest lakes in the world.
The park has a variety of vegetation cover ranging from Woodlands and tropical rainforests. Some of the special wild life here is the colobus monkeys, bushbucks, blue duikers, otters and many more.
Mt. Kilimanjaro
The Kilimanjaro generally receives over 50,000 people every year. Being the tallest mountain in Africa, the numbers will be expected as it entices all the professional and amateur hikers.
The mountain has beautiful views with animals and stunning vegetation.
The Kilimanjaro Mountain is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Being the tallest mountain in Africa makes its obvious that it has to be on this list. It’s also among the iconic mountains of the world that include Everest and Denali mountains. So people that have visited these other mountains would love to visit this one too.
The mountain basically has an abundant wild life spread especially in the montane forest zone. There are many mammals as well as birds. Therefore for bird watchers, you can enjoy the hike even more. The mountain has many primates as well like the Olive Baboons. There are Rhinos and forest elephants.
Tarangire National Park
The Tarangire National Park is known to have one of the highest numbers of animal concentration with very beautiful Landscapes in Tanzania. It’s near Arusha which makes it easy to access and not far from other attractions like Kilimanjaro national park. The park covers an area of 2,850 square Kilometers which makes it the sixth largest park in Tanzania.
The National park derives its name from the Tarangire River which goes through the park. This also influences the amount of animals that are in this area. The waters attract all the animals like elephants etc.
Ngorongoro Crater
If you got about 30,000 mammals in a crater with about 100 square Kilometers of wetlands, grassland and forests you would get the Ngorongoro Crater as the result. This destination is a world heritage site and among the seven wonders of Africa and this makes it a highly sought after safari destination in Tanzania.
Ngorongoro Crater is basically part of the larger area of the Ngorongoro National Park and conservation area. This protected area is conjoined with the Serengeti National park and they share most of the wildlife and the entire ecosystem.
Ruaha National Park
This park was generally gazzetted in 1964 and it was a very small park compared to the like of Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It has however been expanded over time and now has an area of about 20,226 kilometers squared.
There is the Ruaha River that crosses through the national park and most of the game drive around the park is concentrated here since most wild life roams along the river.
Selous Game Reserve (Nyerere National Park)
This is by far the largest national park in Tanzania. It is formerly known as the Selous Game Reserve. It covers an area of about 55,000 square Kilometers. Its low-lying borders hold large populations of elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, hartebeest, greater kudu, hippo, crocodile, and numerous other species.
Giraffe, zebra, and African wild dog can also be found in the reserve. Nyerere National park has a limited number of tourist facilities, and walking safaris in the company of a ranger is a beloved experience within the Park.
Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park was basically a graze land for the Masai people that lived here. The first American that visited this area (Stewart Edward) came here in 1913 with a group of friends with intentions of hunting lions. They later returned in 1920.
In the early 1950s, the British noticed the reduction in the number of animals and more so lions and decided to gazette this area as a national park and resettled the Masai people who were living here to the current Ngorongoro National Park in 1959 and they live here up to date. This made Serengeti the oldest National Park in Tanzania.
This is the most visited park in Tanzania. It’s the park that experiences the wildebeest’s migration to the Masai Mara game park in Kenya. The park covers an area of about 14,763 Sq Kilometers. This makes it the largest national park in Tanzania.
A safari without the Serengeti National park on the itinerary is not worth booking. Serengeti actually means “Plains” in the Masai culture which is the area where the park is located. The park is mostly covered by savanna grasslands which boobs a lot of while life including the endangered Black Rhinos.
The Park generally boasts of a lot of wild life with over 3 million mammals that call these plains home. The Migration of the animals usually occurs between May and early June. You will see a lot of Zebras and Wildebeests as they move in search for water.
Other animals you will basically see here are many species of Antelopes, Buffalos, Cheetahs, Hippos, Leopards, Primates, Giraffes, and many reptiles like the crocodiles, a lot of bird species (About 500) and Leopards.
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