Mount Meru, crater lakes and a park you can walk in
Arusha National Park sits under Mount Meru, the second highest mountain in Tanzania at 4,562 metres, within easy reach of Arusha town. It is small, green and varied, and it is one of the few parks in the country where walking safaris and canoeing are straightforward to arrange.
The park packs in the Ngurdoto crater, a small forested caldera you view from the rim, the Momella lakes, a chain of alkaline lakes with flamingo and waterbirds, and the montane forest and moorland rising towards Meru itself. Giraffe, buffalo, zebra, warthog and bushbuck are common. There are no lion, which is precisely why walking is allowed.
Meru is usually a three or four day trek with hut accommodation, accompanied by an armed ranger because of buffalo and elephant on the lower slopes. It is steeper and more exposed than Kilimanjaro on the summit ridge, and many people find it the more interesting walk. Done immediately before Kilimanjaro it meaningfully improves acclimatisation.
Seasons shift year to year. Treat these as a guide and confirm with your operator.
Dry, clear and the best chance of seeing Kilimanjaro from the Meru slopes.
Warm and mostly dry between the rains.
Long rains. Trails are muddy.
Half a day for the park. Four days for the Meru trek.
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