Tarangire National Park

Overview

Tarangire covers about 2,850 square kilometres of baobab-studded savannah two hours south of Arusha, and it is the northern circuit's most underrated park. Its character comes from the Tarangire river, which holds water when everything around it has dried out. From July onwards animals from a much larger ecosystem - the Maasai steppe, Lake Manyara, the Simanjiro plains - converge on it, and the concentration of elephant becomes extraordinary: herds of a hundred or more are routine, and the park is one of the best places in Africa to watch elephant family behaviour at length. Lion, leopard, buffalo and eland are all here, along with dry-country species you will not see in the Serengeti: fringe-eared oryx, gerenuk and the greater kudu. The baobabs give it a look nothing else on the circuit has. Most visitors come for a single day between Arusha and the Ngorongoro road, which is a mistake - the southern reaches around Silale swamp are far emptier and reward two or three nights.