Karatu serves as a gateway to the Ngorongoro Highlands and is located between Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater. Due to its location, many safari goers end up overnighting or stopping here for a quick break earning it the nickname “Safari Junction”.
The busy downtown of Karatu is a mix of old and new with safari vehicles, local buses, and brightly colored tuk-tuks riding alongside Maasai herders and ox-carts, while just outside town cultivated Iraqw farms and villages merge into the green vegetation of the Ngorongoro Forest. If you do an Internet search for top things to do in Karatu Tanzania, you may end up with the erroneous impression that there is nothing to do in this town.