Arusha National Park

Coming south looking towards the plains. 

Patches of sun illuminate a pretty awesome landscape. 

Very pronounced hills popped out of the landscape.

We recently went to Arusha National Park, which is only about 100km (60 miles) from Moshi. It was our first time visiting the park in over a year and a half and we were super excited. It has a lower park fee ($23.00 for residents) than most other parks and has a variety of unique ecological areas. Arusha's equivalent to Moshi's Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park, Arusha NP is home to Mt. Meru (4,565 meters/ 14,977 ft), a similar though smaller volcano than Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

One of our friends, Rob, has a safari company based in Arusha and he has recently taken more of an interest in birds. Since Ana has a pretty good knowledge of birds and is an excellent teacher, we've been getting together more and more to go on trips. We were super excited when the idea of Arusha NP was suggested since we have known that people with cars (motorcycles not allowed) could easily frequent Arusha NP from Moshi since you can stay out all day and still come back home at a reasonable time. 

One of Rob's friends joined us for the day, all with the mission of seeing some birds! I asked Rob how often he comes since I knew his job took him to a variety of national parks quite frequently. He said that he probably went every month or so but it was one of his favorites since the lack of big game meant less tourists and a more laid back feel. The landscape also varies quite dramatically from the dry savanna of the Serengeti; it has lush forests and grassland. 

Not only was the birding fantastic but the landscape was unique and the spirits were high among the crew. Our Tanzanian friends were happy they didn't have to be worrying if their clients were happy and it was a beautiful day, not always a guarantee in the rainy season. We passed some giraffes and buffalo grazing in the lush grasslands with rolling hills and clouds floating around Mt. Meru. It was mountainous but densely green and the clouds seemed to fill the spaces between the sky and mountain peaks. We continued through a forested area with fig trees and moss covering the forest. We spotted some ungulates including the rare suni!

Going with safari guides has its perks; they know the park extremely well and they have leftover lunches from previous clients. We did buy some chapati and bananas before we went in and we stopped at a scenic waterfall spot for lunch. No insects, sun shining down, plush short grass...it didn't even seem real. We laid down a blanket and pulled out cashews, chips, peanuts, coffee and tea, biscuits, and other snacks. 

Our friends said they had never spent so much time in the park and gone to so few places (birders are notoriously slow). They said they loved the pace and relaxed nature of our birding day and I couldn't agree more!

Clouds floated around the summit of Mt. Meru all day. 

There was a fig tree you could literally drive through. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch at this bucolic spot, which was pretty much a perfect picnic spot. 

Ana does some birding. I believe here she was looking at a common Fiscal. 

There were actually two fig trees that one was able to walk through. 

I won't lie, I am a huge sucker for clouds in the mountains. 

Super rare Abbott's Starling. The Head Park Warden even joked with us when we went in "if you're lucky you'll see a Trogon..if you're real lucky maybe you'll see Abbott's Starling..yeah right!"