In the foothills of Mount Meru, Africa’s fifth highest peak, is Arusha National Park. At 137 square kilometers, it is one of the country’s smaller parks but is a great introduction to Africa’s game viewing.  Known for having the densest giraffe population in the world.
A visit to this park often starts with a morning hike in the company of a park ranger. This is a perfect way to recover from a long international flight and is a great opportunity to see wildlife from the ground level vantage point.

There are some wonderful places to enjoy a picnic lunch in the park. Visitors can also travel to the Momella Lakes for continued game viewing. The park features leopards, giraffe, Cape buffalo, monkeys and baboons. This is also one of the only places where you can find the black and white Colobus monkey.

The Momella Lodge was featured in the John Wayne classic movie Hatari and remains much like it was during that time. There is also another small lodge in the park. However, the park is only an hour from Arusha itself and closer yet to lodges in Duluti and Usa River.
Weather permitting; you might also see the snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro from the park.

Highlights

Mt. Meru, the second highest peak in Tanzania at 14,980 ft. Densest population of giraffe in all of Africa. Blue monkeys, colobus monkeys and prolific bird-life. Only 45 minutes from the Arusha city center.