Savannah Sentinels: Tarangire Day Safari

Tarangire National Park sits two and a half hours south-west of Arusha and is one of the most rewarding day safaris in the country. It is best known for two things: its enormous elephant herds - Tarangire has the highest elephant density in Tanzania, often over 3,000 animals in the dry season - and its ancient baobab trees, which give the park a landscape that looks nothing like anywhere else on the Northern Circuit. Add the seasonal Tarangire River, which draws in every mammal within 40 km during the dry months, and you have a day trip that consistently delivers spectacular game viewing.

You depart Arusha early to reach the Kwakuchinja gate for park opening, with the game drive starting immediately as you enter. The first stretch follows the river, and this is where the elephant herds concentrate - it is not unusual to have 100+ animals within your first hour, moving between the water and the acacia woodland. Lion prides shadow the herds, and the park has one of the best track records in Tanzania for tree-climbing lion.

Midday is spent at the Tarangire River picnic site under an enormous fig tree, with impala, warthog and vervet monkey usually visible from the tables. The afternoon takes you further south into the baobab-and-tamarind country toward the Silale Swamp for buffalo, giraffe, gerenuk-like fringe-eared oryx and, in the right season, the migratory zebra herds that spill in from Manyara.

Bird life is exceptional - Tarangire has more than 550 recorded species including yellow-collared lovebird, ashy starling, red-and-yellow barbet and, over the swamps, huge flocks of pink-backed pelican. You return to Arusha in the early evening.