This morning, after breakfast, we left Arusha, in Tanzania, and we cross a stretch of the A23, the same road that leads to Kilimanjaro international airport; at some point, however, about halfway between the city of Arusha and the airport, we turn left and continue on the road that leads us to the Arusha National Park and its main entrance: the Ngongongare Gate.

We pay the entry fee and take a tour to see the panels that explain very well the geology, fauna and flora of the park; they are very interesting and deserve to be seen.

We get into the car, open the roof and leave for our safari; this park is different from all the other parks of Northern Tanzania, it does not have a large surface, but offers unique sightings.

First we take Park Road and we climb along the slopes of the Ngurdoto Caldera, in this area there is a beautiful rainforest, inside which live many species of forest birds, leopards and some species of antelopes that prefer the wooded areas; there are also many baboons and different species of monkeys, including the black and white Angolan colobus, that can be seen here more easily than elsewhere.

As we climb we see many baboons, some are right in the middle of the road and we have to wait for them to move before we can pass, we also see the vervet monkey and the blue monkey or Sykes's monkey, we cannot find instead the Angola black and white colobus.

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Instead we spot many banded mangooses and many birds, including a beautiful silver-cheeked hornbill, a wonderful Hartlaub's turaco and a long-crested eagle.

We arrive at the edge of the Ngurdoto Crater, it is much smaller than the Ngorongoro Crater, but it is very similar as a conformation, but on the bottom there is a prairie, a swamp and a forest, while on the bottom of the Ngorongoro there is an open savannah.

We see some buffaloes and some elephants that are on the bottom of the crater, we try to take some pictures and admire them with our binoculars; the landscape is lush and we like a lot the wet smell of the forest mixed with that of the earth.

We go back to the car and go down the same road on which we climbed, finally we can spot a colobus, but only rapidly and we cannot take photographs, too bad but, the important thing is to have seen it; shortly after we see a large group perched on the branches of trees, there is also a perfect light to take photographs.

The colobus are beautiful, have a black body and, along the legs, a long white coat; when they jump from branch to branch they are wonderful, thanks to the white fur, that extends like a cape.

In the end we see so many, our patience has been rewarded!

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We descend from the slopes of the Ngurdoto and head towards the Serengeti Ndogo or Small Serengeti, this area of ​​the Arusha National Park is named like that because it is a portion of open savannah with some acacia grove; in this area we see many giraffes, there are many and they are very beautiful and elegant; at one point we are surrounded by giraffes, how wonderful, they look at us curious while we admire their beauty.

We also see some waterbucks, the ever-present warthogs, the bushbucks, the zebras and other antelopes.

From here we continue and head towards the Momela Lakes, the particularity of these two lakes is that one has sweeter water and the other has saltier water, so each one is home to species of animals, especially birds, different than the other lake.

Before continuing our visit to the Arusha National Park we stop at the Momela Viewpoint & Picnic area, a staircase leads us to a raised point, where there are picnic tables and where you can enjoy a spectacular view of the lakes and the surroundings; we have lunch in this spectacular place and enjoy the view.

After lunch we return to our car and continue our safari, we drive the road that is on the edge of the Momela Lakes, the shores of the salt lake are literally pink by the high concentration of greater pink flamingos and lesser pink flamingos that are found here.

tanzania Arusha national park exploringafrica safariadv

We have driven the tracks around the lakes, looking for glimpses and landscapes to be immortalized; at some point, a bit from a distance, we can see a leopard on the branch of a tree, it is not easy to spot leopards in this park, we were very lucky.

The Arusha National Park also offers scenic views of Mount Meru when it is not shrouded in clouds.

Mount Meru is also part of the national park area and can be climbed on foot, escorted by a ranger; it is located in the Western part of the park, beyond the Momela Gate.

The climb is not for us and therefore we continue our journey with Sir Stanley Speke inside the Arusha National Park.

At this time of the year, in addition to resident birds, migratory birds are also present, coming here from Europe; there are about 400 species present in this small park.

At about 4:00 pm we leave the park and return to Arusha; the Arusha National Park, that is often unfairly ignored by many visitors, has given us many emotions and beautiful sightings, it is always a pleasure to come back!