Tarangire National Park

Size 2,850 km²

Best time July to October, when the river pulls everything in

Getting there 2 hrs by road from Arusha

Location Manyara Region

Tarangire is a dry-season park and it is honest to say so. Between November and May the animals disperse across the wider ecosystem and it is a pleasant, quiet, green park with good birding. From July, as the surrounding country dries out, the Tarangire river becomes the only permanent water for a very long way and everything comes to it. That is the version people remember.

The baobabs are the other reason to come. Some are well over a thousand years old, scarred where elephants have stripped the bark for moisture, and they give the park a look nothing else on the circuit has.

Because it is two hours from Arusha, Tarangire works as either a full day trip or the first night of a longer safari. We usually recommend the second: an afternoon drive and a night in the park beats a rushed day and a drive home in the dark.

Where it is

How to get there

By road — about 2 hours from Arusha on tar the whole way to the gate.
By air — Kuro airstrip inside the park, mostly used by people flying on to the Serengeti afterwards.

Best time to visit July to October, when the river pulls everything in

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What to see

Attractions

01

The Tarangire river

From July it is the only permanent water for a very long way, and everything in the ecosystem comes to it. Elephant in numbers you will not see anywhere else on the circuit.

02

The baobabs

Some well over a thousand years old, scarred where elephant have stripped the bark for moisture. They give the park a look nothing else in the north has.

03

Silale swamp

Green when everything else is not, in the south of the park. Buffalo herds, lion that hunt them, and far fewer vehicles than the northern loop.

04

The birding

Over 500 species. Kori bustard, yellow-collared lovebird and the ashy starling, which is found nowhere but here and the country immediately around it.

What to do

Activities

Game drives

A full day along the river in the dry season, or a half day if Tarangire is the first stop on a longer trip.

Walking safaris

Permitted in the concessions on the park boundary, with a ranger. A completely different pace from a vehicle.

Night drives

Also in the concessions, where park rules allow it after dark. Genet, civet, bushbaby and occasionally leopard on the move.

Day trip from Arusha

Two hours each way makes Tarangire the one park you can do properly in a single day from town.

Itineraries

Trips that include Tarangire National Park

1 day

Tarangire day safari

Arusha · Tarangire · Arusha

Out at six, back for dinner. The cheapest way to find out whether a longer safari is for you.

7 days

Classic Northern Circuit

Arusha · Tarangire · Ngorongoro · Serengeti · Arusha

Tarangire first, because it is closest and because arriving somewhere on the first afternoon beats arriving nowhere.

Shapes rather than fixed packages — every one of these is adjusted to your dates, your pace and the month you can travel before it is priced.

All safaris