Tarangire December 2021

[Ldn2Africa]

Brief Overview

Stunning park, and well suited to self-drive safaris, being easily accessible on good roads from Arusha; easy to combine with Lake Manyara on such a trip.

 

Local Species

Particularly good for elephants and birders, but lion and leopard can be seen as well, and lots of game in general.

 

Huge and plentiful baobab trees are another specialty.

 

Tips

Try to go in the dry season, apparently easy to spot predators then (I was there in the west season). Most accommodation is in the North, where it is busy and also gets day trippers, Swala in the only camp int he south and where i stayed (and photos are from), but be aware its a 1-1.5hr drive from the gate (driving from Arusha direction).

 

Concluding Remarks

Suits experienced safari goers, who want a low volume destination, but without compromising on wildlife and/or being confined to a smaller private reserve. Perhaps less well suited to a one-off or first time safari goer, looking to see all the iconic species with a higher probability of success, in one trip. I saw leopard but the lions were elusive (heard them every night).

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing, I have a special love of Tarangire - probably because it's always our first stop out of Arusha.  It's so different dry season versus wet - we saw quite a few lions on our last dry season visit (September 2019) whereas we only saw a few hints in the long grass when there in February 2016.  We'll be back next February, can't wait.  

[John M.]

I suspect, a landscape lover... like me. 

[Atravelynn]

Nice and green.  Thanks for reporting on your December experience.

[CaroleE]

@Ldn2AfricaThank you for sharing the photos. Tarangire is looking lovely and green. Good to see it in a different season, I was there in dry season.

I really enjoyed this park and have looked at going back a couple of times. More inspiration to do so!

[Ldn2Africa]

Thank you everyone and yes its a wonderful park, where you can get the vastness of a national park, with good wildlife densities and diversity, relatively easy to access for self-drivers, but still not too busy. And beautiful landscapes, which makes the search equally enjoyable as specific sightings.

 

I was surprised to see it so empty, whereas, Lake Manyara was packed full of day trippers, on a relatively small driving circuit.

[Zubbie15]

22 minutes ago, Ldn2Africa said:

 

I was surprised to see it so empty, whereas, Lake Manyara was packed full of day trippers, on a relatively small driving circuit.

My understanding, based on conversations with our guide, is that the very northern part of Tarangire also gets a similar influx of people. They spend a few hours in the park as they detour on the way from Arusha to somewhere else, or they are staying outside the park and don't go too deep into the park. As soon as you get further into the park, it's much quieter. On our last trip we spent an hour alone with some mating lions, which was only possible because we stayed further away from the main entrance. 

[Ldn2Africa]

This is definitely the case, northern section was busier, having both more accommodation options and being closer to the main gate. This makes it busier with day tripping organised tours and self drivers- but in my limited experience, it was still not "busy" relative to many other higher profile parks or crowded enough to detract from an enjoyable experience, even when in the northern part.

 

And even if not staying in the park, it is easy enough to self drive down and back up, for a day tour. Little chance of getting lost or stuck, was also a benefit to Tarangire for self drivers.

 

So overall price and ease of access vs business trade off, is much more favourable for Tarangire in my view. It is also, just pleasant enough to drive around, when no animals in sight (@ John. M).