TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
Tarangire National Park is one of the most renowned national parks of the northern circuit in Tanzania. It´s famous for its large herds of massive elephants and huge, ancient baobab trees. In fact, Tarangire is home to some of world’s largest elephants.
Tarangire National Park is often visited in combination with Serengeti or Ngorongoro. Unlike these parks, Tarangire lies relatively close to Arusha and is also the only national park in the area where you can spot a large variety of animals, including many predators. This makes Tarangire the perfect national park for a daytrip as well.
It’s also a quite large the national park and covers an area of approximately 2,850 square kilometers (1,100 square miles.) Tarangire National Park derived its name from the long serving river that crosses the park in the middle called the ‘Tarangire River’. The river acts as the primary source of water for wildlife in the park, which is also one of the reasons of the large variety in the parks ecosystem.
Elephants and Baobab Trees
Tarangire National Park is characterised by gigantic, ancient Baobab trees and large herds of elephants. The park is said to be home to approximately 2,500 individuals. You may often find whole families gathering for a drink or a bath at the riverbanks.
Due to the plentiness of food and other environmental factors, elephants grow bigger, compared to the surrounding national parks. Thanks to these factors, Tarangire is home to some of world’s largest elephants.
The baobab trees are another interesting thing about the park. Tarangire National Park is full of baobab trees that are hundreds of years old, some individuals are even over a thousand years old!
BEST TIME TO VISIT
Tarangire National Park is considered to be a year-round safari destination, but there’s definitely a period that’s better for wildlife viewing.
The best season to view wildlife in Tarangire is usually from June to October (the dry season). Large herds of animals migrate to the park from the surrounding areas due to the plentiness of water available that flows from the Tarangire river. During the dry season you may also find most of the elephants that Tarangire National Park is so famous for.
During the wet seasons (November-December and March-May) animals are harder to spot as there’s a lot of green, thick vegetation in the park. Much of the wildlife, especially the elephants, scatter during this timeperiod in search for more solid and dry ground.
ACTIVITIES
There’s loads of amazing excursions and activities to choose from when paying a visit to Tarangire National Park.
For example:
- Canopy Walk
- Mto wa Mby Cultural Tour
- Mountainbike tour
- Kanoeing on Lake Manyara
- Visit the Maasai Tribe
- Night game drive
- Enjoy a day of cooking with the local mama’s