Tarangire National Park Safari Guide: Elephants, Baobabs and Day Trips

Most itineraries treat Tarangire as a warm-up before the Serengeti. Our guides would argue that between July and October it is the most reliable game viewing in northern Tanzania, and it is certainly the quietest of the big parks.

Why Tarangire is special

The Tarangire River runs through the middle of the park and in the dry season it is the only permanent water for hundreds of square kilometres. Animals from the wider Maasai Steppe pull in towards it, and elephant herds of a hundred or more gather along the banks — a concentration you will not see anywhere else in Tanzania.

The landscape sets it apart too: rolling ridges, swamp edges and baobabs that are a thousand years old and wide enough to hide a vehicle behind.

• ·The largest elephant concentrations in northern Tanzania
• ·Lion, leopard and cheetah following the plains game
• ·Fringe-eared oryx and gerenuk, found in few other parks
• ·Over 550 recorded bird species, including yellow-collared lovebirds
• ·Far fewer vehicles than Ngorongoro or the central Serengeti

Best time to visit Tarangire

June to October is outstanding. The bush thins, the swamps shrink and the river pulls everything in — this is when Tarangire beats parks with bigger reputations.

November to March is green, quiet and superb for birds, with resident elephant, giraffe and zebra still present. Sightings are more spread out because water is everywhere, but you may go an hour without seeing another vehicle.

Tarangire park fees and costs

Entry is set by the Tanzanian authorities at roughly $83 per adult per day in high season, plus vehicle and, if you sleep inside, camping or concession fees. Every quote we send includes these — they are identical for every operator, which is why unusually cheap safaris cut corners elsewhere.

Our full-day Tarangire safari from Arusha starts at $250 per person including park fees, a private 4x4 with a pop-up roof, your driver-guide, picnic lunch and hotel pick-up.

Tarangire as a day trip from Arusha

The gate is about two hours from Arusha, so a 06:30 departure gets you in as it opens. A long morning along the river circuit, picnic lunch at a viewpoint over the valley, an afternoon loop towards the Silale swamp, and you are back in town around 18:30.

It is the strongest single safari day available from Arusha, which makes it ideal for volunteers with one free day, for travellers acclimatising before Kilimanjaro, or as a Zanzibar add-on.

Which safaris include Tarangire

Tarangire opens our 2-day Tarangire and Ngorongoro trip, sits in the middle of the 3-day Rift Valley route, and is the first park on both the 7-day and 8-day northern circuits. On longer routes we usually visit it on the way out rather than the way back, when everyone is still fresh for a full day of driving.