The Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) manages 22 national parks, alongside the separately administered Ngorongoro Conservation Area: together covering roughly 15% of Tanzania’s land area. The list below covers the parks most safaris are built around.
- Serengeti National Park: Tanzania's most famous park, home to the Great Migration and exceptional year-round predator viewing.
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: A UNESCO World Heritage site centred on the Ngorongoro Crater, one of the densest concentrations of wildlife in Africa.
- Tarangire National Park: Known for its baobab-studded landscape and some of Tanzania's largest elephant herds.
- Lake Manyara National Park: Famous for tree-climbing lions, flamingos and a dramatic Rift Valley escarpment backdrop.
- Kilimanjaro National Park: Centred on Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, and a major trekking destination in its own right.
- Ruaha National Park: Tanzania's largest national park, remote and less-visited, with strong predator and elephant populations.
- Nyerere National Park: Africa's largest protected ecosystem of its kind (formerly part of the Selous Game Reserve), known for boat safaris and walking safaris.
- Mahale Mountains National Park: A remote, fly-in park on Lake Tanganyika, one of the best places in the world to track wild chimpanzees.
- Gombe Stream National Park: The site of Jane Goodall's original chimpanzee research, also on Lake Tanganyika.
- Arusha National Park: A compact, often-overlooked park near Arusha town, good for a short safari with views of Mount Meru.
Plan your Tanzania safari
Tell us which parks interest you and we will shape the route around them. Visit Plan My African Safari, message us on WhatsApp at +256 701 243 304, or email [email protected].
