Arusha National Park.
This game reserve, although one of Tanzania’s smallest parks, is one of its most beautiful and topographically varied, with
Mount Meru, Ngurdoto Crater and the flamingo swathed Momella Lakes within its
boundaries. This often-overlooked park is a perfect introduction to your
Tanzanian safari experience. Gaze at the 15,000 foot (4,565m) mighty extinct
volcano, Mount Meru with its craggy peak; it is almost as high as Europe’s tallest mountain, the 4,807m high Mont Blanc.
Mt Meru completely dominates the skyline of
the entire Arusha Park region. From Arusha town the volcano presents a
typically cone-shaped profile. But that view is deceptive: coming from the
eastern side, as you travelled, from Kilimanjaro Airport, it reveals that half
the mountain is missing. A quarter of a million years ago, the Meru-volcano
exploded. Its entire eastern wall was blown away in a disaster similar in scale
to the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. Over time, forests grew on the slopes of
fertile soil and the Momella lakes formed among depressions in the rubble
thrown out by the blast. A landscape of utter desolation metamorphosed into one
of the prettiest spots in Africa, an extremely worthwhile addition to your
Tanzania itinerary.
The area around Mount Meru is quite beautiful
and fertile, benefiting from two rainy seasons. The local people are great
agriculturalists and farm various crops depending on the altitude of their
farms. You can see acres of banana plantations with a bewildering variety of
bananas: red sweet ones, a savory one, some used to brew local beer and others
as fodder for cattle. However, Arabica coffee is the main cash crop, as it is
well suited to growth on the upper slopes of the mountain. There are also
impressive waterfalls nestled in the woods, one of which you will explore on
foot the following day.
Having
entered the park, your driver begins to climb a hill and you have reached a
spectacular crater called Ngurdoto Crater. Actually it is not a crater as such
but a caldera. Calderas are formed by the inward collapse of volcanoes. This
crater/caldera is also called “mini-Ngorongoro”, because it’s just like a miniature of its big brother Ngorongoro. The only
difference is it is much smaller (only 3km across); it cannot be explored by
car or on foot, due to the swampy, crater floor. Its slopes are dense with highland
forest; creating a perfect place for you to spot black-and-white colobus
monkeys and the huge crowned eagle that preys on them.
From your view point on the crater rim
(Buffalo Point, 1,800 m), y
ou look into a small and very pretty volcanic bowl. You’ll see the well-marked tracks where animals ascend and descend. The
crater floor comprises forest and marshy areas interspersed by open plains. You
may be able to see buffalo and warthogs down there, sometimes even giraffe and
waterbuck. It is almost a reserve within the reserve. Even elephants are able
to climb down the steep crater-walls. After finishing their vegetarian meal,
they climb up again and it is hard to imagine them on the precarious path.
Baboons and many bird species can also be spotted down in the caldera. The
caldera bottom is not far, so you can spot the animals with your naked eye or
your binoculars, if you have them at hand.
From Ngurdoto crater your driver makes his
way on a track to Momella area, passing through deep forest before skirting a
series of pretty papyrus-filled pools where you can often see bushbucks,
warthogs and spur wing geese. The going is slow as the road continues over
mounds of bush-covered volcanic rubble. Passing through this area you’ll
encounter many giraffes, which are abundant in this park. Soon your driver
turns off to the right and your track leads through a seemingly manicured grove
of African olive tree before emerging at the beginning of the Momella Lakes
circuit.
This one-way track winds through a wonderland
of lakes and swamps, each separated from another by small hills and volcanic
debris. The area looks quite picturesque, especially because of the acacia
trees around the lake-shores and the many giraffes in the foreground. Beyond in
the distance, you can see the majestic Kilimanjaro towering over the hot
plains. Flocks of guinea fowl are very common in the scrubby bush. You can also
spot DikDiks quite frequently, disappearing in the bush next to your vehicle.
DikDiks are cute looking mini-antelopes, little bigger than a hare. Normally
you see two of them together as they live in monogamous pairs, a very rare
thing in nature; only if one dies will the remaining one look for another mate.
When alarmed the DikDik makes a “zik-zik” whistling noise through its flexible,
elongated nose, which might explain its name. The species here in Arusha Park
is Kirk‟s DikDik (Madoqua kirki); it is the most widespread variety in
East Africa.
There are no lions in this park; the forest
habitat does not suit this big cat, which prefers open, savannah country.
Waterbuck, bushbuck and buffalo feed on the grassy lakeshores. Each of the
several lakes has its own charm. In all there are seven lakes, and because of
their varied mineral contents, each lake supports a different type of algal
growth and therefore appears as a different color: One of the lakes is more
reddish because of red algae, the next one is greenish because of green algae,
and the third one has a bluish color because of blue algae. The algae are
important to feed the masses of lesser and greater flamingos, which are
abundant here during certain times of the year. Hippos have a favorite refuge
in Little Momella Lake; Big Momella is more alkaline and usually has a flock of
greater flamingos.
Both lakes attract impressive numbers of
stationary and migratory waterfowl, especially during Europe’s winter months. Rafts of migrant shovelers, pintails and garganeys
then mingle with African red-billed, pochard and Maccoa ducks. At all times,
great cormorants and pelicans can be seen fishing in the open waters, while a
collection of waders and herons hunt the marshes and shores.
Also the well-known African spoonbills are
common here, together with sacred ibis, yellow billed storks, hornbills,
kingfishers, Egyptian geese, Cape teals, various waders and also the big
African fish-eagle, with its distinctive cry. You can also hear the trill of
the dabchick, a little grebe, whose cry rings continually over the lake region.
If the lakes circuit is a birder’s paradise, the rest of the park is scarcely less interesting. There
are extended marsh areas, where buffalos and warthogs wallow. Zebra, Bohor
reedbuck, bushbuck and Common waterbuck also commonly frequent these areas.
Because of the patchy mix of forest and bush, avian life is extremely rich. The
augur buzzard, a bird of prey with a red tail that makes it easily identifiable
is very common and you’ll definitely notice the brilliantly colored
white-fronted bee-eater, especially around Momella.
Forest birding in general is a bit harder
than in the open grass land, but views of Hartlaub’s turaco, olive pigeon and red-fronted parrot await the patient
observer.
