Tarangire National Park

Tarangire is the third largest national park in Tanzania at 2,850 square kilometres, and one of the most underrated wildlife destinations in East Africa. It is named for the Tarangire River, a permanent water source that snakes through the park and becomes the lifeline of the ecosystem in the dry season. Between July and October, when the surrounding plains have dried out, almost every elephant, buffalo, wildebeest and zebra in the wider Maasai Steppe migrates into Tarangire to drink, and the river banks come alive with hundreds of animals at once.

The park is best known for its elephant population, which is one of the largest in northern Tanzania, with herds of forty or fifty animals not unusual along the river in September and October. Lion are resident and often found in the long grass and atop fallen baobabs, leopard hunt the riverine forest and the kopjes, and cheetah work the open southern plains. Tarangire holds healthy populations of greater and lesser kudu, eland, fringe eared oryx and gerenuk, all species that are uncommon elsewhere on the northern circuit.

Bird life is exceptional. The park records more than 550 species, including the yellow collared lovebird, ashy starling and northern pied babbler endemic to the region, several hornbill species, three coloured roller and one of the largest concentrations of breeding raptors in Tanzania. The southern swamps of Silale, Larmakau and Gursi attract huge numbers of waterbirds and are also reliable for lion prides that den in the long sedge.

Tarangire's atmosphere is shaped by the baobab. These giant trees, some of them over a thousand years old, stand across the park in groves and on the kopjes, and at dawn and dusk their silhouettes against the sky are among the defining images of a Tanzanian safari. Western Bridge Africa pairs Tarangire with a stay in one of the private concessions on the eastern boundary, which allows walking safaris and night drives that are not permitted inside the national park itself.