Lies 120 km south of Arusha Tarangire National Park is famous for Baobab trees and elephants! It is very popular for day trips from the town. Tarangire offers a wide variety of wildlife in its area of 2,600 sq km. As in all ecosystems, the vegetation and the types of animals you find are closely correlated. The principal features of the park are the flood plains and the grassland, mainly comprising of various types of acacia trees, and a few scattered baobabs, tamarind and the sausage trees. The Tarangire River, after which the park is named, provides the only permanent water for wildlife in the area. When the Maasai Steppes dry up with the end of the long rains in June, migratory animals return to the Tarangire River. This period stretches between August and November and it is the best season for game viewing in Tarangire.
The most common animals found in the park include zebras, wildebeest, lions, leopards, waterbucks, giraffe, elephants, gazelles, impala, gerenuk, lesser kudu and the beautiful fringe-eared oryx. You may be lucky to spot the tree-climbing python for which the park is famous, or the kudu and the roan antelope which are rare species in Northern Tanzania. Over 500 species of birds have been recorded in the Park.