Tarangile National Park

Tarangire National Park lies 120 km south of Arusha. There are wide variety of wildlife in its area of 2,600 sq. km includes two large plains and a seasonal swamp in the south. Baobab-dotted Tarangire is one of the most awe-inspiring landscapes in all of Africa, with an equally impressive population of wildlife, including zebras, wildebeest, leopards, waterbucks, giraffe, elephants, gazelles, impala, gerenuk, lesser kudu and the beautiful fringe-eared Oryx. You may be lucky to spot the tree-climbing python, for which the park is famous, or the kudu and the roan antelope which are rare species in northern Tanzania, along with lion, which are known to occasionally climb trees for relief from the day’s heat and over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the Park.

The principal features of the park are the flood plains and the grassland, mainly comprising of various types of acacia trees, and a few scattered baobabs, tamarind and the sausage trees. The Tarangire River provides the only permanent water for wildlife in the area. When the Maasai steppes dry up at the end of the long rains in June, migratory animals return to the Tarangire River, making Tarangire National Park the second after Ngorongoro in the concentration of wildlife. This period stretches between June and November and it is the best season for game viewing in Tarangire.