About Tarangire National Park

About Tarangire National Park. There is a lot of information about Tarangire National Park that you should consider acquainting yourself with as you plan a Tanzania safari tour to explore one of the best destinations in Africa and the world, for amazing game viewing safaris. When travellers are looking to book Tanzania safaris tours, Tarangire National Park is often times underrated and thus ignored, with travellers concentrating in the prime Tanzania safari parks of Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Selous Game Reserve and Ruaha National Park among others. Travellers do look at the Tarangire National Park as one of the national parks of Tanzania worth just a detour or not including all together; and yet Tarangire National Park is one of the best parks in Africa.

Previously referred to as one of the most underrated and unvisited national park of Tanzania, Tarangire National Park is of the best kept secrets and definitely a gem of the northern Tanzania safari circuit. Established in 1970 and covering about 2850 square kilometers, Tarangire National Park is one of the various national parks of Tanzania located in the northern safari circuit of Tanzania, which is the most sought after Tanzania safari circuit. The northern safari circuit of Tanzania has parks like the Serengeti National Park famous for the great migration, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area famous for the Ngorongoro Crater and the African Big Five, Tarangire National Park, Arusha National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, as well as the Kilimanjaro Mountain which can easily be reached from Arusha.

Tarangire National Park is a home to a variety of wildlife, amazing landscape, and teeming with a variety of birdlife. Tarangire National Park inhabits one of the largest population of elephants in the park, as well as the great towering baobab trees which act as shade for the animals in Tarangire National Park, and of course offer great picnic spots in Tarangire National Park. Another thing about Tarangire National Park that you may need to know is that the park hosts 4 of the five African Big five, making it one of the best places to see animals like elephants which are a great sight against a backdrop pf the majestic baobab trees and acacia trees, buffaloes, lions and leopards. It is in Tarangire National Park that you shall be able to see the tree climbing lions, easily seen up on the acacia trees in Tarangire National Park.

Highlights of Tarangire National Park

Diverse Wildlife

Apart from the critically endangered rhinos, Tarangire National Park has four of the African big five including leopards, elephants, buffaloes, and lions, as well as tree climbing lions seen dangling from the acacia trees. Other Tarangire National Park animals that you can find in the park include the diminutive dik-dik, fringe-eared Oryx, greater kudu, and the Ashy Starling. Tarangire National Park has the largest elephant population, seen moving graciously against the towering baobab trees. You could have an opportunity to see herds of over 300 elephants digging in a dry riverbed of the Tarangire River looking for underground streams.

Birdlife in Tarangire National Park

One of the highlights about Tarangire National Park is the birdlife of Tarangire park. Tarangire National Park is a birding destination teeming with a variety of bird species. Tarangire National Park has about 550 bird species roaming the park, making Tarangire National Park one a true birder’s paradise. Some of the birds in Tarangire National Park include hoopoes, hornbills, and brown parrots, white-bellied go away birds, helmeted guinea fowl, yellow necked spur fowl, crested francolin, starlings, vultures, kiri bustards, bee-eaters, stripped swallows, swifts, among so many others.

Baobab Trees

The vast savannah grassland of Tarangire National Park is dotted with great towering baobab trees which date back to more than a couple of hundred years. Baobab trees can live for more than 600 years, and can store between 300-1000 litres of water in their trunks. Vultures are a common sight in the baobab trees.

Activities in Tarangire National Park that you may enjoy include game drives through the savannah plains of the park, bird watching safaris, boat rides on the Tarangire River, walking safaris, picnics, among others. Night game drives in Tarangire National Park to see the nocturnal animals in Tarangire National Park can also be arranged.

Best time to visit Tarangire National Park

Now that you may know a bit about Tarangire National Park and would like to visit the park for a number of activities in Tarangire National Park, knowing the best time to visit the park is equally important. Tarangire National Park can be visited any time of the year, and animal views are undisrupted despite the season given that all the animals are residents of the park. The best time to visit Tarangire National Park is however during the dry season when the grass is shorter and the animals do congregate around the few waterholes, thus making animal viewing quite easy. The best time to visit Tarangire National Park for birding safaris is however during the wet season, when there are migrant birds visiting the park around that time.

Tarangire National Park is a great national park of Tanzania to visit, any time of the year. Take time to plan out Tarangire National Park safaris, even for short Tanzania safaris like a Tarangire National Park day trip. Take time to reach out to a tour operator of your choice for a great Tarangire National Park safari package, with an opportunity to even extend your Tanzania safari to other destinations like Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area among others in the northern Tanzania safari circuit.