Tarangire National Park

This fantastic little park (2850 km²) is located within a relatively easy drive from Arusha (it's just over 100km south of the town on predominantly paved roads) and is a great alternative to visiting the far more popular, big alternatives like the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater - particularly during June-October. During these months, part of the dry season, Tarangire boasts the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem and yet is probably the least visited of Tanzania's national parks - definitely worth looking at if you want to get off the beaten track and are limited to this specific time period.

Tarangire is good for birds, wildlife and walking safaris - environmentally it's a combination of open plain, riparian forest and has a source of permanent water (the Tarangire river), explaining the concentration of game during the dry months. There's more vegetation than in the Serengeti, with a good population of baobab trees and acacia scrub, supporting herds of 300+ elephant. The usual mix of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, giraffe, impala and eland inhabit the park, and support a full house of predatory animals, although they're less used to human presence in this wilder park and are therefore slightly harder to find.

Private mobile camp Image © John Berry

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