Tarangire National Park

7 Day: African Big Game and Primates

Tarangire National Park is the sixth-largest national park in Tanzania named after the Tarangire River which flows through the park and is a perennial river that assures water to both humans and animals even during the dry period.

The Park is located in Tanzania's Manyara Region. The Tarangire River is the primary source of freshwater for wild animals in the Tarangire Ecosystem during the annual dry season. The Tarangire Ecosystem is defined by the long-distance migration of wildebeest and zebras.

In the dry season, thousands of animals concentrate in Tarangire National Park from the surrounding wet-season dispersal and calving areas.

Tarangire National Park has some of the highest population density of elephants as compared to anywhere in Tanzania, and its sparse vegetation, strewn with baobab and acacia trees, makes it a beautiful and distinctive location to visit. Tanzania Tourism

The park covers an area of approximately 2,850 square kilometres (1,100 square miles.) with a landscape composed of granitic ridges, river valleys, and swamps. Vegetation is a mix of Acacia woodland, Combretum woodland, seasonally flooded grassland, and baobab trees.

Famous for its high density of elephants and baobab trees and 550 species of birds, the best time to visit is June to November when it is easier to see herds of zebra, wildebeest and cape buffalo in their thousands. Other common resident animals include waterbuck, giraffe, dik-dik, impala, eland, Grant's gazelle, vervet monkey, banded mongoose, and olive baboon. The Predators include lion, leopard, cheetah, caracal, honey badger, and African wild dog.

Tarangire is now famous for having had the birth of twin Elephants in August 2017 by a 57-year-old mother named Eloise and she is the oldest known elephant to give birth to twins

In 2015 a white giraffe was also spotted in the park. This white colouration is known as Leucism

Flora and Fauna

In a census done in 2009, Tarangire National Park had over 2500 elephants and these are on the increase, together with the numerous Baobab trees make the park quite unique.

Other animals in the park include 25000 Wildebeest, 30,000 zebra, 6000 buffalo, 2700 giraffe, 5500 elands, 30,000 impalas and 2000 warthog, these figures, however, are over 30 years old so the numbers should have improved positively since then.

The river Tarangire flows through the park and its shores are lined with dense patches of elephant grass woodland and some palm trees.

The Park harbour over 500 species of birds which are mainly dry savannah species since Tarangire is in the western limit of the Somali-Masai biome. Key species to note include the endemic Yellow-collared lovebird and Ashy Starling.

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.