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.
Tarangire is a great national park to spot wildlife, but also one of Tanzania’s finest birding destinations with more than 500 species recorded.
In the park you might encounter good numbers of wildebeest and zebra as well as giraffe, buffalo, Thompson’s gazelle, greater and lesser kudu, eland, leopard and cheetah. It is also the only place in Tanzania where the oryx and gerenuk are regularly spotted
Tarangire is surprisingly large, giving visitors chance of a quiet game drive without interruption. It’s even possible to spend more than 1 day in the park, without driving the same route twice.
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!
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.
A short list of the ‘most wanted’ animals in Tarangire National Park and the chances of spotting them. Some animals are (almost) unique to each park or only appear in certain areas. It’s important to let us know your wildlife preferences, so we can give you the best chance of spotting your favorite animal.
The percentages are an estimation of how often we’ve seen these animals ourselves based on our visits. Some animals we’ve seen 100%, everytime we’ve visited. However, it’s not a zoo, so there’s always a chance you miss an animal.
Feel like visiting yet?
Tarangire National Park has a mild climate with enjoyable temperatures during the day. Not too hot and not too cold with average temperatures of around 24 degrees during the daytime and 15 degrees during night time. So be sure to bring a sweater if you’re about to embark on a early morning safari, as it can be a bit cold.
The wet seasons are devided between the ‘long rains’ and the ‘short rains’. The ‘long rains’ is the heaviest raining season, which is between the months March and May, the ‘short rains’ is between November and December.
During the rainy seasons it usually rains in the afternoon and seldom for the entire day. During the long rains there’s more chance of flooding and muddy roads than the short rains. This is usually considered to be the least favorite period to visit Tarangire National Park. The short rain period is often fine to visit.
There’s loads of amazing excursions and activities to choose from when paying a visit to Tarangire National Park.
For example:
Here are some of the accommodations in and/or near Tarangire National Park. We have strong relationships with the listed accommodations, but we also maintain excellent connections with many others across Tanzania. We can arrange stays at any Lodge in the country, so feel free to request options that aren’t listed here.
It’s possible to stay in or near the park itself, just outside or in the the town of Mto wa Mbu, if you’re on your way to Serengeti national park.
To make sure they meet all of our requirements, all lodges are tested personally, by us. This way we can guarantee the best possible safari-experience. We check the lodges on efficiency of the location, ‘wildlife-experience’, quality of the rooms and service and of course the safari-factor! There’s a perfect lodge for every budget and every type of traveler.
Note that you’re only allowed to drive in the parks between 6am and 6pm.
