# The national parks of Tanzania > All twenty-two of Tanzania's national parks, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area: where they are, what each is for, when to go, and how to reach them. Canonical: https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks Twenty-two national parks and one conservation area, covering roughly 105,096 square kilometres — about an eighth of the country's land area. Count the game reserves, forest reserves and other protected land as well, and it is about 40 per cent (World Bank, 2025). Most visitors see four of them. - **22 National parks:** 21 mainland under TANAPA, plus Jozani in Zanzibar - **1 Conservation area:** Ngorongoro — run by the NCAA, not TANAPA - **30,893 km², the largest:** Nyerere, gazetted 2019 - **2.18 km², the smallest:** Saanane Island, in Lake Victoria ## A distinction worth making **Ngorongoro is not a national park.** It is a conservation area, managed by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority rather than TANAPA, under a model that allows Maasai pastoralists to live and graze inside it. Its fees, permits and rules are separate from the national parks'. Everyone calls it a park. It is listed here because visitors look for it here, and labelled honestly because the difference is practical, not pedantic. ## Northern circuit - [Serengeti National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/serengeti): Grass to the horizon, and the migration that moves across it. 14,763 km². Best time: June–October for the crossings. - [Ngorongoro Conservation Area](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/ngorongoro): A collapsed volcano holding its own ecosystem — and not a national park. 8,292 km². Best time: Year-round. - [Kilimanjaro National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/kilimanjaro): The highest point in Africa, and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level on earth. 1,712 km². Best time: January–March and June–October. - [Tarangire National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/tarangire): Baobab country, and the largest elephant concentrations in the north. 2,850 km². Best time: July–October. - [Lake Manyara National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/lake-manyara): A narrow strip between the Rift wall and a soda lake. 648.7 km². Best time: June–October for game. - [Arusha National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/arusha): Mount Meru, the Momella lakes, and a park you can walk in. 322 km². Best time: Year-round. - [Mkomazi National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/mkomazi): Dry thornbush under the Pare and Usambara mountains, and a rhino sanctuary. 3,245 km². Best time: June–October. ## Southern circuit - [Nyerere National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/nyerere): Tanzania's largest national park, carved out of the Selous in 2019. 30,893 km². Best time: June–October. - [Ruaha National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/ruaha): The second largest park in the country, and one of the emptiest. 19,822 km². Best time: June–October. - [Mikumi National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/mikumi): The most accessible big park from Dar es Salaam — a morning's drive. 3,230 km². Best time: June–October. - [Udzungwa Mountains National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/udzungwa-mountains): Rainforest, waterfalls and primates found nowhere else on earth. 1,990 km². Best time: June–October. - [Kitulo National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/kitulo): A high grassland plateau that flowers — the first park in tropical Africa created mainly for its plants. 465.9 km². Best time: Late November–April, during the flowering. ## Western circuit - [Katavi National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/katavi): Remote, difficult to reach, and in the late dry season almost unbelievable. 4,471 km². Best time: August–October. - [Mahale Mountains National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/mahale-mountains): Chimpanzees on a forested mountainside falling into Lake Tanganyika. 1,613 km². Best time: June–September, between the rains. - [Gombe National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/gombe): A narrow strip of forest above Lake Tanganyika where Jane Goodall changed what we know about ourselves. 56 km². Best time: Late June–October. - [Burigi-Chato National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/burigi-chato): Lakes, wetland and savanna in the far north-west, gazetted in 2019. 4,707 km². Best time: June–October, and January–March. - [Ugalla River National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/ugalla-river): Miombo woodland along a river that floods and empties with the seasons. 3,865 km². Best time: June–October. - [Rumanyika-Karagwe National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/rumanyika-karagwe): A small Kagera park with a nineteenth-century kingdom behind its name. 247 km². Best time: January–February and June–August. - [Ibanda-Kyerwa National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/ibanda-kyerwa): Savanna and river valleys on the Kagera, where Tanzania meets Rwanda and Uganda. 294 km². Best time: July–September and December–February. ## Coastal circuit - [Saadani National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/saadani): Where the bush runs down to an Indian Ocean beach — the only national park in Tanzania on the sea. 1,100 km². Best time: June–September, January–February. ## Lake circuit - [Rubondo Island National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/rubondo-island): A forested island in Lake Victoria, and a chimpanzee experiment that worked. 456.8 km². Best time: June–September, between the rains. - [Saanane Island National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/saanane-island): Tanzania's smallest national park, a short boat ride from Mwanza city. 2.18 km². Best time: Year-round. ## Zanzibar circuit - [Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park](https://seeyoutanzania.com/parks/jozani-chwaka-bay): Zanzibar's only national park, and the last refuge of an endemic monkey. 50 km². Best time: Year-round. Areas and establishment dates are as published by TANAPA and in the public record; each park page lists the sources its figures were checked against. Park entry and conservation fees are set by government and revised annually, so check the current rate with the park authority before you travel.