Discover the Secrets of Arusha National Park

This is a profound mistake since it has all the features of those three parks, including a superb range of flora and fauna. The park’s main features are Ngurdoto Crater (often dubbed little Ngorongoro), the Momela Lakes and rugged Mt Meru (4556 metres), which overlooks the town of Arusha to the North. Because of the differing attitudes within the park (from 1500 metres to over 4500 metres) and the geological structure, there are several vegetation zones, which support appropriate animal species.

Mount Meru in Arusha

Mount Meru which is rivals Kilimanjaro is a mixture of lush forest and bare rock and has on its eastern side the spectacular Meru Crater, a sheer cliff face that rises over 1500 metres and is one of the tallest of its type in the world. Animal life is abundant, and although it is impossible to predict what you will see and exactly where you will see it, you can fairly certain of sighting zebras, waterbuck, reedbuck, klipspringer, hippopotamus, buffaloes, elephants, hyenas, mongoose, dik-dik, warthogs, baboons, vervet and colobus monkeys.

You might even catch sight of the occasional leopard, but there are no lions or rhinos. It is possible to see a good deal of the park in just one day – the Ngurdoto Crater, Momela Lakes and the lower slopes of Mt. Meru – assuming you are in a vehicle. But this won’t give you the chance to walk around, so it is much better to spend two days here, staying overnight at a campsite, contact us for more detail about the accommodation in Arusha National Park.

Mountain Meru History

It is estimated that Mt. Meru was formed 20 million years ago during earth movements associated with the formation of the Rift Valley. Sometime later, a subsidiary vent opened to the east of the volcano and Ngurdoto was born. As lava continued to spew out for thousands of years until a violent explosion blew it apart as a result of superheated gases being trapped beneath the earth’s crust.

A repeated activity of this nature gradually increased the size of the crate until the molten rock withdrew to deeper levels, leaving the cone without support. It then collapsed to form the caldera which you see today. Although Ngurdoto is now extinct, Mt Meru is merely dormant, having last erupted only 100 years ago. The lava flow which occurred at this time can still be seen on the north-western side of the cone. The spectacular Meru Crater has formed 250,000 years ago as the result of a series explosions which blew away the entire eastern wall of the cone and showered the eastern side of the mountain with a mass of mud, rocks, lava and water. The Momela Lakes were formed out of depressions in the drying mud.

How is it Like to Climb Mount Meru

Most often, a safari companies is used for Mount Meru climbs. The climb begins at Momela Gate (1500m), where porters, rangers, and guides are available for rent. The journey is often completed in three days (two up, one down); those who choose a four-day climb will discover that the additional day is spent on the descent (stopping a second time at Miriakamba Hut) rather than the ascent, negating the benefit of spending the extra day for acclimatization. Although altitude sickness is not as common on Mount Meru as it is on Kilimanjaro, it should still be taken seriously if it occurs. Little Meru Peak, which is located on the crater rim but is 750m lower than Meru Summit, is a simpler objective than Meru Summit itself if you have minor altitude sickness.

Day One travels from Momela Gate to Miriakamba Hut in 4–5 hours (2514m). The longer and more scenery route follows a navigable trail to the south that begins by touching the large rocks Ngare Nanyuki (Red River); look for tawny eagles in the yellow-bark acacia trees here. The relatively steep and more direct route heads up due west; it is primarily used by trekkers when going down.

The path winds around Tululusia Hill (Sentinel Hill), which is home to a waterfall on the Tululusia River and a huge strangling fig tree with aerial roots that have naturally fashioned an arch. A kilometer further from the tree is Itikoni Clearing, a popular buffalo grazing area, a further kilometer is Jekukumia, where a little detour leads to the meeting of the Ngare Nanyuki and Jekukumia rivers. Both paths penetrate the rainforest, which is marked by the African olive tree and where bushbuck may be spotted, at around 2000 meters. Walking at Miriakamba Hut at night should be done with caution due to the presence of buffalo and elephant droppings.

Day two continues upward to Saddle Hut (3570m), which is beneath the summit’s horseshoe-shaped crater and is reachable in 2–3 hours. Although the symptoms of altitude sickness begin to manifest on this day, a quick diversion to Little Meru Peak (3820m) is doable (5–6 hours from Miriakamba Hut) if you have the time and energy.

Day three begins at 2 a.m. with a 4–5 hour climb to Meru Summit (4562.13 m, according to a sign at the top), which is followed by a relatively narrow ridge around the western rim of the crater. This allows time to reach the summit in time to see the dawn over Kilimanjaro.

You will be stopped at Saddle Hut for lunch on the way back down to the gate, after that, you will continue to Momela Gate, and by the time you get there will be in the late afternoon. As an alternative, you might take it easy and stay an additional night in Miriakamba Hut, which is about a 3 to 4 hours trek from the top.

What is the Secret of Arusha National Park

Arusha National Park receives relatively few visitors despite being close to Arusha Town. This is good news for visitors who do manage to visit because they can take in the park’s breathtaking volcanic scenery, expansive views (especially of its enormous neighbor, Kilimanjaro), hauntingly beautiful rainforest, and plenty of wildlife in relative solitude. The second-highest mountain in Tanzania, the volcanic Mount Meru (4566m), dominates the park.

From Arusha, Meru appears to be an almost perfect cone, but when viewed from the east, it displays the effects of the catastrophic volcanic incident that single-handedly destroyed the eastern side and summit of the mountain, which was once higher than Kilimanjaro, over a quarter of a million years ago. The eruptions threw boulders over 70 km to the east and triggered a devastating flood of water, rocks, mud, ash, and lava. Earth tremors still happen even though the volcano is currently categorized as dormant, and a number of tiny eruptions, the most recent of which was in 1910, were noted during the colonial era.

The 3.5km-wide Meru Crater on the mountain’s peak, the whole fragmented eastern slope, and the eastern foothills are all included by the national park and its bordering forest reserve. Ngurdoto Crater, a three-kilometer-wide unbroken caldera known as “Little Ngorongoro” because of its fauna, and the alkaline Momela Lakes, which are shallow and home to a variety of birds, including flamingos. Buffaloes, elephants, hippos, giraffes, warthogs, antelopes, zebras, black-and-white colobus monkeys, and blue monkeys are among the animals that you could observe in the wild. There are 575 different bird species, and butterfly lovers are in for a treat as well. Leopards and hyenas are there but rarely seen (there are no resident lions).

Ngurdoto Crater and Momela Lakes in Arusha National Park

This crater is surrounded by forest, while the actual crater floor is a swampy area. To the west of it lies Serengeti Ndogo (Little Serengeti), an extensive area of open grassland and the only place in the park where herds of Burchell’s zebra can be found.

The Momela Lakes and Ngurdoto Crater are the attractions of the park’s eastern region, which spans the wooded foothills of Mount Meru. Both are accessible via prearranged day excursions from Arusha. In the vicinity, if escorted by a park ranger, walking could be feasible. The volcanic material left behind when Mount Meru blew its top 250,000 years ago developed seven small, alkaline lakes that make up the Momela Lakes in the northeast of the park. The lakes’ opaque colors of emerald and turquoise are caused by several types of algae, which thrive in the alkalinity and make the area a perfect home for filter-feeding birds like flamingos.

This lake like many in a rift valley is shallow and alkaline and attracts a wide variety of water birds. The lake is fed largely from underground streams and, because of their different mineral content, each lake supports a different type of legal growth, which gives them each a different color. As a result, the birdlife varies quite distinctly from one stretch of water to another, even where they are separated by a strip of land only a few meters wide.

Pelicans, ducks, and a variety of migrating birds are among the other species, especially between May and October. In the woodlands around the lakes, sightings of black-and-white colobus monkeys are almost a given. You also could see blue monkeys, bushbucks, buffaloes, hippos, giraffes, and zebras. Contact us for additional information if you’re interested in canoeing on Little Momela Lake.

You can drive from Momela Lakes to Ngurdoto Crater, an unbroken, 3 km wide, 400 m depth volcanic caldera (eventually nicknamed “Little Ngorongoro”) created when two volcanic cones combined and ultimately collapsed; you can walk along the crater’s western and southern rims. Lokie Swamp and three additional lakes flank the driveable road south from Ngurdoto Crater. Similar to Ngorongoro, Ngurdoto is home to a wide range of animals, such as buffalo, elephants, baboons, and occasionally leopards. A number of locations on the south side of the rim provide good views of Kilimanjaro and may be used to see the crater’s inhabitants.

How and When to Visit Arusha National Park?

The park is 21 km from Arusha and is reached by turning off the main Arusha to Moshi road at the signpost for the national park Our professional guide and driver will take you to an excellent series of gravel roads and tracks within the park which he will take you to all the main features and viewing points.

The park can be visited throughout the year with the rain season during October and November and again in March and April when you will need 4WD vehicles. When driving around the park, you must be accompanied by a guide, but if you intend to walk, an armed guide/ranger is compulsory because of the danger of buffaloes.

A guide/ranger is also compulsory if you intend to climb Mt. Meru and when you drive or walk around the Ngurdoto Crater rim, you are not allowed to walk down to the Crater floor. Safari ASAP guides contain knowledge and skills on how to take you around the park and experience the best wildlife view, birdlife, and plants to be found there. We will take care as a note on accommodation, transport, climbing Mt. Meru, and park entry fees.

What you intend to accomplish will determine the ideal time to visit. Although Mount Meru may be climbed all year long, it is advised to avoid it from March to May when it rains a lot since you risk becoming soaked, cold, and muddy. In September, when the mountain is at its coldest, then again from December through February, the skies are the clearest. It’s better to observe birds between. migratory seasons, from May and October.

Conclusion

Although the summit of Mount Meru is nearly a kilometer lower than that of Kilimanjaro, the trek may be just as gratifying due to the stunning surroundings and deep forest. Mount Meru is sometimes used as a warm-up climb before attempting Kilimanjaro. The vegetational zones of the mountain resemble those of Mount Kilimanjaro, however, there are no high-altitude glaciers or ice fields. Beginning at about 1800 meters, the evergreen forest is first chilly, wet, and dense before becoming thinner as you ascend. For little duiker antelopes and primates, particularly blue monkeys and black-and-white colobus monkeys, which are frequently spotted by climbers, the upper forest, which includes huge bamboo thickets (up to 12m tall), provides an ideal home.

At around 2900 meters, the forest departs and is replaced by flowering meadows where you could see buffalo, giraffes, or warthogs. After the meadows, there is a region of huge lobelia and groundsel, then, at 3400 meters above sea level, a barren alpine desert where the only noises other your own breathing are the wind and the calls of white-necked ravens.