Plan your safari
Elephant herd walking in line beneath an acacia, Tarangire National Park

Tarangire National Park

Tarangire: elephant herds by the hundred under ancient baobabs.

Plan your safari Highlights

On the northern circuit, Tarangire is the quiet achiever. In the dry season the Tarangire River is the only water for miles, and as a result the park concentrates some of the largest elephant herds in East Africa (300 strong is not unusual) among landscapes of two-thousand-year-old baobabs.

Because most itineraries rush past it, a stay here feels wonderfully private. Meanwhile, the southern reaches of the park are proper wilderness, best explored from a small camp, with walks and night drives in the bordering conservancies.

Tarangire rewards time. Most visitors give it a single day-trip, but two or three nights in a quiet corner of the park, or in the private concessions on its border, reveal a slower, wilder Tanzania of ancient baobabs, python-draped sausage trees and some of the largest elephant herds in East Africa, with barely a vehicle in sight.

Highlights of Tarangire National Park

Elephant super-herds

Hundreds gather along the river from June to October, the best elephant viewing in northern Tanzania.

Baobab country

A landscape of vast, ancient trees unlike anywhere else on the circuit.

The wild south

Silale Swamp and beyond: lion, big python, and hardly another vehicle.

Night drives & walks

Permitted in bordering conservancies, although this is rare on the northern circuit.

Where you’ll stay in Tarangire National Park

We select where you stay privately around your journey. We recommend each camp, lodge or villa according to its location, season, guiding, privacy and suitability for the people traveling. You’ll see the places we suggest, and why, in your itinerary.

Plan your private safari

Practical details,
in one place

Money, health, connectivity and packing work the same way on every safari we plan, so they live in one place rather than on every page.

A solitary baobab tree standing on the plains of Tarangire, Tanzania
The baobabs: Tarangire’s signature, and nowhere else on the northern circuit

Best time to visit Tarangire

Jun–Oct

Dry season. Wildlife then pours in to the river and the swamps. Prime time.

Nov–May

Green season. Herds disperse, but birding is excellent and rates drop.

Quieter seasons, considered

In the green months, however, rates ease at many of these camps, the plains empty of vehicles and the light turns dramatic. What each season gives, and what it trades, is set out in our Safari Planning Guide.

Planning & cost

Safari cost

Priced to your budget, and built around your camps, the season and how you like to travel. There are no fixed packages.

How we travel

Above all, every journey is privately designed, with private guides and vehicles arranged where specified, the finest lodges, and a specialist on call throughout. At fly-in camps, game drives may be shared unless a private vehicle is reserved.

Tarangire National Park FAQs

In the dry season, absolutely. Its elephant viewing rivals anywhere in Africa, and it also takes pressure off busier parks. In addition, we usually place it first on the route from Arusha.

About two hours by road, which makes it the natural first stop on a northern circuit safari before Ngorongoro and the Serengeti.

Elephant above all, plus lion, leopard, buffalo, giraffe, and dry-season concentrations of zebra and wildebeest. Birders log 500-plus species.

Getting to Tanzania: flights, visas and health

Correct when we wrote it. Before you travel, we check every requirement for your exact route and tell you what to apply for and when.

AirportsKilimanjaro International (JRO) for the northern circuit, Julius Nyerere, Dar es Salaam (DAR) for the south, and Zanzibar (ZNZ) for the islands. Bush flights to the camps leave from Arusha Airport (ARK) and the park airstrips.
Getting thereNo nonstop from the US: connect once through Amsterdam (KLM), Doha (Qatar), Istanbul (Turkish) or Addis Ababa (Ethiopian). Plan on 18–24 hours door to door.
Visa: US citizensUS citizens need the multiple-entry e-visa (about $100), applied for online before travel. Allow two to four weeks. Apply only at the official portal: visa.immigration.go.tz.
HealthYellow fever certificate required only if you arrive from a country where the disease is present; a layover over twelve hours in one can count. Malaria prophylaxis is advised for all safari areas. Country guidance: CDC Travelers’ Health.
PassportSix months’ validity beyond your return date, with at least two blank pages. Travel insurance including medical evacuation is required on every journey we plan. Tanzania also requires one applicable mandatory inbound insurance policy (USD 44), determined by your first point of entry; see our inbound insurance guide.
Full flight guidePlan your safari

Plan your Tarangire safari.

Tarangire National Park is at its best in the dry months, when the river concentrates everything.

So tell us how you like to travel and start with a complimentary consultation.

Plan your safari

For official park rules, fees and opening hours, see Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA).