Tarangire National Park is a national park in Tanzania's Manyara Region. The name of the park originates from the Tarangire River that crosses the park. The Tarangire River is the primary source of fresh water for wild animals in the Tarangire Ecosystem during the annual dry season. The Tarangire Ecosystem is defined by the long-distance migration of wildebeest and zebras. During the dry season thousands of animals concentrate in Tarangire National Park from the surrounding wet-season dispersal and calving areas.
Tarangire National Park has some of the highest population density of elephants as compared to anywhere in Tanzania, and its sparse vegetation, strewn with baobab and acacia trees, makes it a beautiful and distinctive location extends into two game controlled areas and the wildlife is allowed to move freely throughout and herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It’s the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem - a smorgasbord for predators – and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.
Tarangire is a popular stop for people travelling through the northern safari circuit on their way to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.
The park is famous for its high density of elephants and baobab trees. When you visit the park during the dry season (June to November) expect to see large herbs of zebra,wildebeest and Cape buffalo.. Other common resident animals include waterbuck, giraffe, dik dik, impala, eland, Grant's gazelle, vervet monkey, banded mongoose, and olive baboon. Predators in Tarangire include lion, leopard, cheetah, caracal, honey badger, and African wild dog.
The wild animals in this park differ depending on the season. It is also linked to the fact that Tarangire is just a part of the bigger ecosystem. Many of the animals leave the park during the months of November to May. The zebras as well as large herds of wildebeests move into the north-western direction towards the Rift Valley floor amongst the large numbers of animals that spread across the large open areas of the Masaai Steppe. The game goes back to the Tarangire swamps during the dry season around the months of June to October most especially, the river system. This is noted as the best season hence enjoy the best of animal viewing during your Tanzania tour visit to Tarangire around this time. You will obviously see big numbers of elephants gather here as well as the wildebeests and zebras.
The impalas also exist in large numbers as well, eland, buffalo and giraffes.Bohor reedbuck, Thompson’s gazelle, greater and lesser kudu and the Coke’s hartebeest. On really some rare occasions, the common usual gerenuk and fringe –eared Oryx are also seen. A few black rhinos are also thought to be still present in this park.
Among the other common animals in the Tarangire National Park are the leopards, lions, hyenas, and cheetah that seem to be popular within the southern open areas. The wild dogs are only seen once in a while.
The birds within the Tarangire are also quite many, there are over 500 species that have been identified here. The lovebirds that are yellow collared, the shy starlings are in plenty and widespread in Tanzania.
