Welcome to Tarangire National Park, where records show that explorers and slave traders once passed through this landscape. Few settled here — tsetse flies helped keep most people and livestock away. The area was first a famous hunting ground, and then a game reserve. Research in the late 1950s and early 1960s showed the importance of the area for wildlife during the dry season. Tarangire National Park was established in the 1970s, the 5th national park to be declared since Tanzania’s independence from the British in 1961.
Tourist Circuits
Visitors to Tarangire National Park are offered a wide choice of enjoyment for their satisfaction. The park offers a network of tourist circuits that adhere to the park’s zoning scheme.
Park Attractions
The Baobab tree — legend says that the baobab tree once angered God, so it was thrown down to earth and planted upside down. These trees are known to live for hundreds of years — some say thousands.
Wildlife migration — many of the large animals of Tarangire move outside the park to some of the most productive rangelands in the world, and many give birth there. With the onset of the rains, vegetation inside and outside the park turns green, but better food is found outside the park than inside. This usually happens between November and June each year.
The Tarangire River — the Tarangire river system is the only reliable source of water for the wildlife of the Maasai steppe during the dry season, usually July to November. Large mammals that dispersed across the landscape return to the river as the natural waterholes outside the park dry up. Wildlife viewing is easiest during this time of year, as many animals visit the river and swamps for water at least once a day. Sections of the river can dry up, with the water disappearing below the sand surface.
The swamps — Tarangire’s extensive swamps are important water catchments, forming a vital dry-season refuge, in particular for elephants and buffaloes. The swamps are found in the eastern and southern parts of the park; they supply the river that flows to the north and west and then empties into Lake Burungi, a seasonal lake. This lovely park was established to protect these essential water sources for wildlife.
Kolo rock art site — located outside the park, this proposed World Heritage Site holds rock art that represents the northern limit of the southern African hunter-gatherer rock art tradition. The sites contain a very impressive concentration of rock shelters with prehistoric paintings, and a number of places considered ritual and ceremonial by local communities. In style, the art includes figures drawn in outline in one colour.
Poachers’ hide — the poachers’ baobab has a diameter of around 10 metres and is estimated to be over 300 years old — one of the largest trees in the park. Passing through a small doorway in the side of the tree, you find a cavernous interior that was clearly used in the past for shelter, perhaps for twenty or more hunter-gatherers. By its nature, Tarangire offers good sightings of wild animals and scenery while you remain in the vehicle. NEVER MISS THIS AMAZING EXPERIENCE!
Walking safaris — another tourist opportunity offered by OBADIA TOURS & EXPLORER SAFARIS, organised under park regulations. Each group is accompanied by an armed park ranger. Other activities include bird watching, bush lunch and picnics.
Where to Stay?
There is a wide choice of accommodation in and around Tarangire National Park: Tarangire Safari Lodge, Sopa Lodge, Swala and Sokwe, Oliver’s Tented Camp, and others including Kikoti, Tree Tops and Tarangire River — all with good service and hospitable staff.
Lions are often seen in this park during the dry season!!