Tarangire National Park

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Herds of elephants, lions and even wild dogs roam Tarangire National Park, with the dry season bringing in large concentrations of animals.

Lying between The Great Rift Valley and Masai Steppe, Tarangire is slightly off the usual safari track meaning it is quieter, with private reserves around the national park, offering more exclusivity, but at a higher cost.

Hidden gems in Tarangire National Park

Tarangire National Park

Best for elephants and baobabs

Heather Richardson

Place

Tarangire National Park, which lies to the southeast of Lake Manyara, is renowned for its large elephant herds and huge baobab trees. The park is also home to lion, leopard and cheetah, and very occasionally it may be visited by packs of endangered African wild dog. In the dry season, it has a particularly high concentration of mammals, with July to October being the best months for wildlife viewing. The main road circuit in northern Tarangire attracts large volumes of day visitors, who usually arrive mid-morning and leave mid-afternoon. This means it can be uncomfortably busy around lunchtime. Relatively few safaris stay overnight in the park, however, so the roads tend to be much quieter in the early morning and late afternoon. As with the Serengeti, some private reserves around the national park offer more exclusivity, but generally at a higher cost.

Tarangire National Park

Tarangire Safari Lodge

Philip Briggs

Accommodation

Best safari lodge for: Unbeatable Tarangire location This is my favourite place to stay in Tarangire National Park. Yes, there are smarter and more exclusive alternatives, but none that comes close to Tarangire Safari Lodge when it comes to location. This clifftop lodge offers a mesmerising view over a long stretch of river where elephants maintain a near-permanent presence. And as if that were not enough, it also has an unbeatable location for early morning game drives on the park’s most rewarding wildlife viewing circuits. The first lodge to open in Tarangire, way back in 1985, it has been owned and managed by the hands-on Simonson family ever since, and it remains of exceptional value by comparison to almost any other lodge in Tanzania.

Best for elephants and baobabs

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Tarangire Safari Lodge

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Tarangire National Park travel guides

Article

Decolonising African travel—and travel writing

Mazuba Kapambwe

Travel writing in Africa has always been an overwhelmingly white affair. Early accounts from 19th century explorers like Henry Morton Stanley and fiction writers like Joseph Conrad depicted Africa as uncivilised, mysterious and barbaric, reflecting the racist attitudes that underpinned European empire building.

Guide

The best safaris in Tanzania

Philip Briggs

Tanzania's big-ticket park is the 12,000-square-mile Serengeti, home to the great wildebeest migration and a healthy population of big cats: lions, leopards and cheetahs. During peak season— July and August—when the famous wildebeest river crossings coincide with northern hemisphere summer holidays, the park can be very busy.