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Tarangire NP |
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| Brief Profile: |
- 2,642 sq km in size
- Over 517 species of birds exist
- Main roads are good and the lanscape generally open
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Tarangire National Park is 115km (71 miles) south of Arusha, with good tarred roads all the way. Tarangire is a long, thin park covering 1,360 sql km (525 sq. miles), roughly running north-south along the line of the Tarangire River. It is made up chiefly of low-lying, rolling hills on the Rift floor, its natural vegetation of acacia woodland and giant baobabs only altered by huge areas of swamp. The swamps of black cotton mud produce rich grasslands, while the watercourses are lined by huge trees, including sycamore fig, tamarind and sausage trees. Tarangire has some of the greatest concentrations of game in Tanzania, second only to the Ngorongoro Crater, but with far fewer tourists. There are several dry-country species that you will be unlikely to see in the bigger parks to the west, including eland, oryx, grant's gazelle and gerenuk.
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Tarangir's huge herds of elephant rival the park's gigantic, squat baobab trees as its most celebrated feature - ancient matriarchs, feisty young bulls and tiny, stumbling calves are ever present to fascinate visitors with their grace, intelligence and amjesty.
The best time to visit Tarangire for wildlife viewing of walking is the dry season, June to October.
The park lies at the Southern end of a vast migration area which stretches north to Amboseli in Kenya. As the land dries and the smaller rivers cease to flow, the herds head south towards the permanent water in the Tarangire River and its surrounding swamps. The first to arrive are the eland and oryx, in June, followed by the elephants, wildebeest and zebra. Although the herds remain in the area until March, and it is great to see the thousands of calves born at this time, you will also have to contend with the rain, luxuriant vegetation and the plentiful insect population that make this less suitable for great game viewing.
There are also masses of birds, including tawny, steppe and fish eagles, marabou storks, goliath herons, white pelicans, spur-winged geese and sacred ibis. Some 300 species are regularly seen in the park, including a number of European migrants who winter here. It is also near the swamps that you may get to see the tree climbing lions. |
| Best time to visit: |
| The best time to visit Tarangire for wildlife viewing of walking is the dry season, June to October. |
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