By Ojugbele Omotunde
Tanzania, situated in East Africa, is home to three of Africa’s 7 Wonders of Nature. Spanning an impressive 945,087 square kilometers (364,900 square miles), this diverse nation invites explorers to delve into its varied landscapes and experience the heart of Africa. Renowned for its wildlife, rich traditions, and stunning topography, Tanzania stands as a gem on the continent’s map.
The country is a popular tourist destination and a country which boasts of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa has 38% of its land reserved for conservation, including 17 national parks, 29 game reserves, 40 controlled conservation areas, and marine parks.
Tanzania’s wildlife, including the Big Five cheetahs, wildebeests, giraffes, hippopotamuses, and antelopes, is primarily found in the northern regions of Serengeti National Park, Tarangire National Park, and Lake Manyara National Park which is considered the country’s popular wildlife attraction.
Above all, the country also boasts of seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, with six on mainland and one in Zanzibar, and five more potential nominations, including Gombe National Park and East African slave trade route.
Some of Tanzania’s nature destinations includes:
1. Arusha National Park
This park, located 50km from Arusha, offers unique nature activities like trekking Mount Meru and guided walks with low predator numbers. Visitors can see Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru, buffalo and giraffe herds, Tululusia waterfall, Ngurdoto crater, and viewpoints with a guided canoe safaris on Lake Momella are being a highlight, with a variety of bird species and a chance to watch hippos, fish eagles, waterbuck, zebra, and warthog.
During a game drive through the “small Serengeti,” buffaloes, bushbucks, warthogs, zebras, and giraffes can be observed. The Ngurdoto Crater, a smaller version of the Ngorongoro Crater, is a lush rainforest with the athletic black and white colobus monkey and the elegant mitis monkey with the crater having a diameter of about 3 km and may even have buffaloes in the swamps on its floor.
Visitors to Momella Lakes can enjoy the sight of common waterbucks, reedbucks, cormorants, kingfishers, and flamingos along the lake shore. Arusha National Park also houses a few African elephants, but due to their constant movement, they are rarely seen with leopards also roaming the vast forests of Mt Meru.
The Park offers a variety of activities, including classic game drives in 4×4 safari vehicles with experienced local guides which is perfect for day trips or starting longer safaris.
For those interested in walking, there are few places in Tanzania’s protected national parks that allow walking among the wild on foot as the low number of predators in the park makes it possible and walking safaris provide an opportunity to get up close to wildlife and birdlife, observe moss-covered trees, and take in the sounds, smells, and colors around them. The walk also takes visitors to the Tululusia waterfalls and back to the Momella gate.
Common sightings include buffaloes, warthogs, giraffes, silvery-cheeked hornbills, little bee-eaters, and the occasional long-crowned eagle.
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The Momella Lakes in the northeast are shallow, alkaline lakes with varying salt levels, providing an ideal habitat for flamingos. Depending on the season and water levels, large flocks of these birds can be seen. Canoe trips on the lake, lasting 2.5-3 hours, offer scenic views of antelope and buffalo herds.
The Arusha National Park also offers a diverse mix of flora and fauna.
2. Katavi National Park
Katavi National Park, Tanzania’s third largest park, is an untouched wildlife paradise located in the west. Accessible by charter flights, it is primarily fed by the Katuma River, which transforms the park into a wetland during the rainy season of April and May. The park features seasonal lakes Lake Chada and Lake Katavi, and hosts a diverse mix of bush land, Miombo forests, riverine forests, and grasslands.
When animals of all sizes gather along the Katuma River to drink and take baths, it serves as one of their only water sources during the dry season. Then, as the remainder of the lakes and marshes dry up, up to a thousand hippos would occasionally congregate for the remaining water. There are large crocodiles lounging in the sun or in the last of the mud pools.
The Katisunga plains in the heart of the park attracts large numbers of wildlife and it is one of the few parks where visitors can catch a glimpse of both the roan and sable antelope in the same place. Other animals grazing here are zebra, hartebeest, eland, giraffe and defassa waterbuck.
The park is unique with large buffalo herds, around a thousand animals, and a healthy population of around 3000 elephants. It also hosts predators like cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, and servals, as well as lion prides and leopards.
With over 400 species of birds, Katavi is a great place for birdwatchers as large flocks of storks like saddle bills, open-billed and spoon bills as well as African fish eagles, Bateleurs, lilac breasted rollers, crested barbets and paradise flycatchers are but a few on the long list of birds in Katavi.
3. Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park, one of Tanzania’s oldest and smallest parks, offers beautiful landscapes and is perfect for nature lovers to unwind on their first few days of a safari. The alkaline lake is fed by the northern Simba River and the eastern Makuyuni River and forms part of the Rift Valley catchment during rainy seasons.
In the past, the park was renowned for large populations of elephants and tree-climbing lions, however, recent years have seen a significant rise in water levels, with skeletons of waterlogged trees marking the old shoreline, making sightings rarer.
The parks inhabitants include buffalos, hippos, baboons, waterbucks, impalas, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeests. There is also a healthy population of leopards, but sightings are rare due to the thick vegetation.
On entry, visitors to Lake Manyara National Park are greeted by a green forest which boasts ancient Mahogany, Sycamore fig, Kapok and huge Baobabs trees. The park is home to large groups of olive baboons with as many as 150 individuals in the troop. They can be seen playing and foraging in the forest and rivers.
Views of the lake are stunning with 670 flowering species and 180 butterfly species found here. For bird enthusiasts, this park is truly rewarding as over 390 species of birds have been recorded. The peace of the forest can be disrupted by the trumpeting calls of the Silvery-cheeked Hornbills, Ground Hornbills and Red-billed Hornbills. Water birds like Blacksmith Plovers, Little Egrets, Black Herons, Spoonbills and Pink Backed Pelicans can be seen here. Flamingos, once abundant, are now seasonal visitors due to the increased water level.
Large herds of wildebeests, zebras and buffaloes like to gather on the open flood plains from where they graze and can keep a lookout for approaching predators.
