TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK

Tarangire National Park is perhaps the surprise package of the traditional northern Tanzania safari circuit and our favourite. It is the most southern of the four northern parks and as a consequence, receives the fewest visitors. This makes it the ideal safari destinations for those looking to get a bit off the beaten track and escape the crowds.

The Park covers a large area of 2600 square kilometres, but lies at the heart of an ecosystem which is around ten times that size. The Tarangire ecosystem covers an area of approximately 20,000 square kilometres and stretches from the Tanzania-Kenya border in the north to the Masai Steppe in the south towards Arusha, whilst the west is bordered by the eastern Rift Escarpment. The greater ecosystem also includes Lake Manyara National Park. Tarangire National Park itself is critical to this ecosystem because it contains a number of permanent year-round water sources. The most significant of these is the Tarangire River, which arises at the foot of the nearby rift escarpment, flows out into the park and then evaporates from its terminus at Lake Burunge on the western border of the reserve.

The landscape and vegetation of Tarangire is different to the other 3 parks in the circuit, populated by undulating hills, with the Tarangire river flowing the northern section of the park. It is home to baobab trees, which are a special sight and make for awesome photographic opportunities.

Tarangire is as rich in game as the more famous cousins, with large numbers of elephants, wildebeest, giraffes, zebras, lions and important populations of Wild Dog, Fringe-eared Oryx found in the park. It also provides the last remaining stronghold of the Blue Wildebeest subspecies (Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus).

Tarangire Migration
With all the focus on the Serengeti migration, the enormous seasonal game movements which take place in the greater Tarangire area tend to be very much overlooked and little understood. Running to perhaps 250,000 large mammals in total, the Tarangire migration is around only a tenth of the size of the main Serengeti migration, certainly in terms of zebra and wildebeest. But it does include a much wider range of species, including giraffe, buffalo, oryx, ostrich and lion. By far the most significant component of this migration is the elephant population, which is thought to now involve 5000 to 10000 animals. In fact if one were to call it the “Tarangire Elephant Migration” it might achieve a much greater recognition.

It should be noted however, that whilst the Serengeti migration tends to stick together for large parts of the year and is accessible as an entity in various locations, the Tarangire migration is much more of an annual aggregation and dispersal pattern, therefore only being of interest for the period during which it comes together.

During the dry season from June to October, game migrates into the reserve from this enormous hinterland and gathers in extremely high concentrations within the park and particularly along the central river valley. During the opposite season from November to June the presence of seasonal waterholes enables the game to migrate outwards, spreading across the surrounding GCAs.

where to stay

From our visits to Tarangire, we have first-hand knowledge of the hotels and below you can find the ones we most commonly use. Those hotels include mainly our favourites sorted from low-key to deluxe, which are usually smaller hotels with very personalised service, but also some bigger places, if they are the best or only option available.
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