Tarangire National Park is one of the few national parks in Tanzania, whose flora and fauna have not been elaborately described to prospective guest, making the park being overlooked and skipped during the Tanzania’s northern circuit safaris.
Apart from Tarangire National Park’s collage of varied colors of vegetation, supported by the water system to create a fantastic hue, the park is home to large concentrations of wildlife, all which can be observed from multiple angles: from the incredible views on the hilltop at Tarangire Safari Lodge where all one needs to do is perch themselves on a chair with a pair of binoculars or experience an alternative game viewing experience at superb camps such as Swala, where the wildlife and the action that follow it are less than 15 feet away from a guest’s tent. The bird life at Tarangire are unmatched attracting 550 species seen easily on the Acacia and Baobab trees and on the riverbeds of the Tarangire River.
Location Of The Tarangire National Park
Tarangire is 74 miles from Arusha and is located on the eastern part of Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. Tarangire National Park is accessible by driving down the main road to Dodoma, passing the right hand junction leading to Lake Manyara, and making a left to the main park entrance. Guests who formerly visited the park in the 1980’s and 1990’s can be ascertained by the fact there is a brand new road network being created in Tanzania, and Tarangire National Park directly benefit from this upgrade.
Visiting Tarangire National Park
Favorable times to visit Tarangire National Park are from the months of June to end of February of the following year. During the dry season, the experience is superb: during midday huge concentrations of wildlife can be seen in the center of the park on a pristine green patch, swamps in actuality, surrounded by brown dry vegetation, against a horizon of azure blue sky and hills in the back drop or at dusk when the sun prides its bright orange glare captivating the souls and minds of visiting guests.
Why Visit Tarangire National Park On A Northern Tanzania Safari Circuit?
• High Concentration (Numbers) Of Animal And Bird Life: Tarangire National Park has the highest number of elephants in the whole of the northern Tanzania parks, exceeding Lake Manyara and Serengeti. There have also been a 550 bird species recorded in the Tarangire National Park, making a sure please for any bird lover. The park displays a diverse number of wildlife namely: elephant, lesser and great kudu, African buffalo, cheetah, fringe-eared Oryx, leopard, lion, Maasai giraffe, spotted hyena, common zebra, white-bearded wildebeest, warthog, eland, olive baboon, bat-eared fox, impala, common water buck, bush buck, coke’s hartebeest, gerenuk, and bohor reed buck.
• Superb Landscape and Vegetation: The landscape and vegetation at Tarangire combines a mix not found in Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater or Serengeti, common parks visited on the northern safari circuit in Tanzania, making it a worthwhile visit to experience something totally different.
• Excellent Accommodation Experiences: Whether you want to sit from your chair on the tent deck to perform wildlife behavioral game viewing or from the elevated levels in a Baobab tree house, Tarangire delivers this superb experience like no other park on a northern Tanzania safari circuit.
• Eco-Tourism Approach: Experience a personal touch with some of the owners of the land where wild animals run free. Let the owners of the land welcome you and take pride in being your porters, servers, night guardsmen as well as your entertainers. Stay at Kikoti Camp and experience this unrivalled magic.
• Multiple Adventure Activities: An adventure seeker to the Tarangire can select three different activities in one single ecosystem: game driving which enables you track more biodiversity to add to your checklist, walking safaris that come close to nature as much as possible and night game driving to see animals not see during the day.
About Tarangire National Park
Size: 2850 sq km (1,096 sq miles).
Location: 118 km (75 miles) southwest of Arusha.
Getting there
Easy drive from Arusha or Lake Manyara following a surfaced road to within 7km (four miles) of the main entrance gate; can continue on to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.
Charter flights from Arusha and the Serengeti.
What to do
Guided walking safaris.
Day trips to Maasai and Barabaig villages, as well as to the hundreds of ancient rock paintings in the vicinity of Kolo on the Dodoma Road.
When to go
Year round but dry season (June – September) for sheer numbers of animals.
Accommodation
Two lodges, one tented lodge, two luxury tented camps inside the park, another half-dozen exclusive lodges and tented camps immediately outside its borders.
Several camp sites in and around the park.