Dreaming of a lifetime safari in Africa, Tanzania is the perfect solution. A vast and diverse land, ranking among the biggest countries in Africa, Tanzania has something for everyone. Explore the national parks, the snow-capped mountain, the beautiful landscape, watch the ocean, city tours and endless foodie experiences. There is truly a lot to do in Tanzania, and if you want to know the must do trips in the country, here is a short list of the most inspiring trips in this wide reaching country.
From the Eastern coast, to the west, north to the south and everywhere in between Africa, there is something thrilling that you should explore. But before hitting the Cape Town, the Table Mountain or even Kruger national park of South Africa, before visiting the Pyramids in Egypt, the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and perhaps the mountain gorillas in Uganda, there is Tanzania. A country full of amazing wonders.
Awesome Tanzania Safari Holidays
Wildlife safaris in Tanzania. From the iconic Serengenti national park, to Tarangire, Lake Manyara. Arusha, Mount Kilimanjaro national parks and many others summing upto 16 parks in the country and several national reserves, Tanzania is a real deal for wildlife safaris in Africa. Millions of tourists visit Serengeti for everyday opportunities to spot the world’s most beautiful species like the big cats, witnessing the dramatic moments of the great wildebeest migration. Still tourists visit Lake Manyara for the famous and amazing tree climbing lions that were only commonly known to Uganda’s Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth national park. Regardless of the national park visited in Tanzania, you equally get stunning experiences, those that last a lifetime. Hiking trips. Even if Tanzania has several mountain ranges like Mountain Meru, Hanang Mountain and Mawenzi Mountain, Kilimanjaro mountain peak is still heading up the hiking trips in Tanzania. Kilimanjaro in Africa’s highest mountain peak standing at an altitude of 5895 meters high. It attracts countless world most adventurous people to come and prove their worth and might by hiking to the top of Africa’s highest peak. Hiking to the top of Kilimanjaro peak takes trekkers through five different vegetation zones, giving you outstanding views of the surrounding villages and the vegetation cover.
Coastline tours. Tanzania is located at the coastline of the Indian Ocean. However much Tanzania is renowned for its amazing wildlife experiences, the coast and the islands of the country are also smashing features worth beholding and staying at. Yews the islands are seductive and can easily be reached, but there is a charm to the Tanzania beaches on the mainland that is constantly gaining more attention from all over the world. Visit the Saadani National park, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and other various beautiful places along Tanzania’s coastline. Cultural safaris in Tanzania. Though these are not very common, they are unforgettable experiences, meeting up with some of the most welcoming and approachable people on earth. A cultural tour in Tanzania allows travelers learn about the distinct tribes, like the Maasai, Hadzabe, Datoga, Sukuma, Swahili and so many others. Enjoy the traditional performances, music and dance, you can even engage. Taste the local delicacies to feel what the African kitchen has in store for you. Community walks are guaranteed to have personal interactions with the local people to see the world through their eyes.
City tours in Tanzania. Unlike Kenya, city tours in Tanzania are infamous, tourists to the country mostly embrace nature and wildlife. The country’s beautiful cities have not been fully explored yet they have amazing features to behold. Road trips through Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Zanzibar and Dodoma among others. The cities simply have lots to offer you. Traveling to Tanzania is one of the unthinkable safaris, just on hearing a safari to Tanzania, almost all travelers get their running shoes to visit this amazing country. Tourists not only engage in the above mentioned safaris, but also birding, camping, nature walks, business trips and many others. Has Tanzania been on your travel bucket list, this is the perfect time for your dream Tanzania safari.
The Northern Circuit Safari of Tanzania
If there is something so magical that anyone will ever see, it’s the magnificence in Tanzania’s northern circuit.
Probably when Richard Mullin said, “The only man I envy is the man who has not yet been to Africa – For he has so much to look forward to.” with Africa he meant northern Tanzania in particular. From Africa’s highest mountain to one of the most splendid wildlife spectacles on earth.
On reading these, ten to one, Serengeti national park and Mountain Kilimanjaro have filled your mind. Well, these are impressive attractions that nearly everyone dreams to be to. However, these are just starting points or highlights of the many amazing sights that make lifetime experiences.
From the rare tree climbing lions, the big game animals, haunting landscape, a vast birdlife to cultures so unique, nothing you can fail to see in the northern circuit of Tanzania. Just to take you through the top experiences in this impressive region of the country.
Serengeti national park. Ranked among the ten wonders of the world, Serengeti is East Africa’s most visited national park. Have never known of a tourist who visited this park and forgot its thrilling encounter. It could be the great migration of the wildebeests, gazelles and zebras. Perhaps a kill you witnessed a lion attack its prey in the wild, or maybe the extensive savanna plains that spread out like eternity. Whatever it maybe, there is that something travelers will never forget about Serengeti national park.
Ngorongoro crater. An incredible natural drama in the world’s largest intact caldera is a worthy sight on a safari in Northern Tanzania. This is a wildlife paradise covering almost a surface area of 264 square kilometers enclosed in steep walls. Often called Africa’s Eden, tourists to Ngorongoro spot over 30000 different wildlife species in just one place, both preys and predators. You will watch huge masses of elephants, buffaloes, zebras, waterbucks, gazelles and many others grazing, as well as lions, leopards and cheetahs watching on their prey closely before that attack them. On the crater walls, there are also numerous bird species for bird watchers.
Tarangire national park. Despite the park’s beauty in the huge baobab trees and the elephant kingdom, Tarangire is one of Tanzania’s underrated national parks. However, its proximity to the famous destinations of Serengeti and Ngorongoro, Tarangire is usually included in the northern circuit itineraries even if assigned just a day. This amazing park is famous for the highest population of elephants you will ever see in Tanzania. Herds of more than 300 elephants are not difficult to spot here, Tarangire is the only park where elephants dot the plains like cattle. Note that, you can still see other wildlife species like lions, zebras, hartebeests, wildebeests, elands, Oryx and many others.
Mountain Kilimanjaro national park. Even if Kilimanjaro park is unlike all other national parks in the Northern circuit of Tanzania, it’s not a park travelers go to for wildlife, but rather to gaze at the highest free standing mountain in Africa and to climb to the top of the continent. Millions of adventurous tourists have come to the park to summit the peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi. Hiking to the top takes through five different vegetation types. On lucky days, hikers even spot several wildlife species in the lower slopes of the mountain as they start their hike to the top.
Lake Manyara national park. This is famously known for its tree climbing lions that are only known here and in Uganda’s Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth national park. These lions are one of the most sought after wildlife species. Besides the tree climbing lions, travelers to Lake Manyara also enjoy Tanzania’s tree top walkway. Nothing thrills like the magic in climbing up into the canopy and walking amidst tree branches. On lucky days, you can even spot baboons, monkeys and several bird species. But, so far there are no records of beholding tree climbing lions up there, and just a few rare sights of elephants.
Tourists to the northern circuit of Tanzania still visit the Ol Doinyo Lengai the mountain of God in the Maasai land. Others have also opted to visit Empakaai Crater, Lake Natron and many others.
One most interesting add on any safari to the top attractions in this region is the Maasai Village. It’s only on rare occasions that tourists visit this region and fail to visit this famous and most hospitable tribe around the popular destinations of Africa.
Tanzania’s northern circuit is a beauty that cannot best be explained in words but rather witnessed with your eyes.
Tanzania Tours to Mount Kilimanjaro Tanzania
Nicknamed as the Roof of Africa, Mountain Kilimanjaro is that true treasure you are searching for; it is situated in Tanzania, a country in East Africa. The mountain is one of the seven summits and the highest peaks on each of the seven continents yet the tallest in Africa; it rises 19,340 feet above sea level making it the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.
Kilimanjaro is a large stratovolcano comprised of three distinct volcanic cones namely, Kibo which is the highest, Mawenzi at 5,149 meters and Shira which is the lowest at 4,005 meters, Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and has a possibility of erupting again. Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo’s crater rim.
The true genesis of this Mountain remains hidden though several theories exist. In 1860, the European explorers adopted and reported that Kilimanjaro was the mountain’s Kiswahili name, in the 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopedia also states the name of the mountain as Kilima-njaro.
Kilimanjaro has five main climbing routes to the summit namely; Marangu Route; Machame Route, Rongai Route, Lemosho Route; and Mweka Route. The famous Machame and Lemosho routes are beautiful, while the busy Marangu is the easiest until the difficult final ascent to the rim of the crater.
It is believed that in 1889, the first people known to have reached the summit of the mountain were Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller. This Mountain seats in Kilimanjaro National Park and acts as the main Hiking destination, it has been subject to several scientific studies because of its reducing glaciers and disappearing ice fields.
Looking at History, Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote in 1860 that Swahilis along the coast called the mountain Kilimanjaro although he did not offer any proof to that, he claimed that this was a mountain of greatness or mountain of caravans. Initially, kilima meant mountain and Jaro meant caravans. In 1885, Jim Thompson claimed again without any proof that the term Kilima-Njaro “has generally been understood to mean” the mountain (kilima) of greatness (njaro), He also suggested “though not improbably it may mean” the White Mountain.
Interesting, Kilimanjaro National park offers inclusive tours that cater for all sorts of people, the hike by disabled people attracted attention of all the audiences all over the world. Especially in 2007 when Wheelchair user Bernard Goosen from South Africa scaled Kilimanjaro in six days, then in 2012, Kyle Maynard who has no forearms or lower legs crawled unassisted to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The oldest person to reach Uhuru Peak was Angela Vorobeva on 29 October 2015 aged 86 years and 267 days; secondly, the oldest man to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro is the American Robert Wheeler, who was 85 years and 201 days when he summited on 2 October 2014. Besides, the youngest person to reach the summit was Theodore Margaroli from London aged 10.
Eruptive activity at the Shira center commenced about 2.5 million years ago, with the last important phase occurring about 1.9 million years ago, just before the northern part of the edifice collapsed. Shira is topped by a broad plateau at 3,800 meters, which may be a filled caldera. The remnant caldera rim has been degraded deeply by erosion. The majority of the Area is comprised of basic lavas, with some pyroclastics. Caldera Formation was accompanied by lava spreading wide from ring fractures, though there was no large scale explosive activity. Two cones formed subsequently, the phonologic one at the northwest end of the ridge and the doleritic Platzkegel in the caldera center.
The prominence of this wonderful destination was mainly to non-Africans since ancient times, Sailors’ reports recorded by Ptolemy mention a “moon mountain” and a spring lake of the Nile, which may indicate Kilimanjaro; although available historical information does not elaborate on any difference of this mountain from other mountains such; Mount Kenya, the mountains of Ethiopia, the Virunga Mountains, the Rwenzori Mountains, and Kilimanjaro among others.
This mountain and its surrounding forests were made a game reserve in the early part of the 20th century. Mount Kilimanjaro National Park was established in 1993 with a primary aim of protecting the mountain above the tree line as well as the six forest corridors that sprawl down slope through the montane forest belt, then in 1987, the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Approximately 30,000 people climb Kilimanjaro mountain each year with three-quarters of them reaching the summit, It’s safe to climb since no particular skills are required, those who fail the task, fail because of some factors such as unfitness, unexpected call, or even harsh weather. This experience is very interesting and challenging.
Kilimanjaro inhabits a wide range of ecosystems, including tropical jungle, savannah, and desert to montane forests, subalpine plants, and the alpine zone above timberline.
With a variety of forest species, the mountain harbors 1,200 vascular plant species, Montane Ocotea forests which take place on the wet southern slope.
There are honey badgers and aardvarks, but visitors seldom get to see these nocturnal creatures. Such as the Noisy bush babies, which are also nocturnal creatures and can be more easily heard than seen? Also, there are small-spotted genets with distinctive black-and-white tails and the loud tree hydraxes that are similar to chipmunks.
To Visit Mount Kilimanjaro, you can either fly or use road transport. However, the most convenient way is to fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport, Drive to Arusha or Moshi, Kilimanjaro gateway towns. These cities are roughly 40minutes -1hour drive away from the airport and taxi services are readily available.
Get to the road and Visit an iconic feature found in East Africa, in a country of Tanzania, You will have the most memorable trip.
Tanzania Safari to Lake Manyara National Park
Have seen almost all travelers to Tanzania heading to the famous Serengeti national park for its vast wildlife density and the great migration of the wildebeests.
Another load of tourists has hit Ngorongoro crater, its being listed among the ten natural wonders of the world. The number of tourists to this Africa’s Eden increases day by day. Hundreds of travelers come to witness the thousands of different wildlife species that call the world’s largest intact caldera a home.
Surprising, all trips to these two amazing destinations pass by Lake Manyara national park. It is one of the small and lessened national parks in Tanzania. Even if this pocket size park may lack the huge variety of wildlife like all other destinations in the northern circuit, there is a pretty good number of attractions that your eyes would love to behold in Lake Manyara national park.
Tanzania having one main north-south route, Lake Manyara is located on the way to Serengeti national park and Ngorongoro crater. This makes it a perfect stop over worth for a day in its water forests, baobab strewn cliffs and bush plains.
Lake Manyara’s position below the cliffs of the Manyara escarpment, at the edge of the rift valley, the park has various ecosystems, amazing bird life, several wildlife species and breathtaking scenic views. If you ever question yourself about visiting this stunning park, think of the incredible attractions your eyes will miss out on a Tanzania safari.
Wildlife. With the varied ecosystems, from the bush plains, water forests to the baobab strewn cliffs, Lake Manyara national park attracts numerous wildlife species to call it a home. This amazing park is popularly known for highest concentration of elephants in Tanzania, occasionally tourists spot huge elephant families on game drives here. More to wildlife, Lake Manyara is still the only park in Tanzania with the rare tree climbing lions, only known here and Uganda’s Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth national park in the whole of East Africa. Other wildlife species that dwell here are zebras, antelopes, zebras, hippos, monkeys and many others.
Birdlife. Lake Manyara national park is a home to countless bird species, having varied ecosystems, the park is a wonderful and worthwhile destination for bird lovers. The most famous birds here are the migrant flamingos that fill up Lake Manyara sometimes turning the lake pink. Other bird species spotted at Lake Manyara are the pelicans, storks, herons, geese, and cormorants which are also sea birds. In the bush plains of Lake Manyara national park there also different bird species that can be spotted on game drives or nature walks.
Lake Manyara. This is one of the small lakes in Tanzania located in the East African Rift valley in Manyara region. It is an alkaline lake covering one third of the park and one of the major features to behold while in Lake Manyara national park. Being a soda ash lake, it considerably shrinks in the dry season, and in the rain season, the lake hosts millions of flamingos and other sea birds, sometimes even turning the lake vibrant pink.
Hot springs. Called the Maji Moto Kubwa hot spring, located in a large swampy area on the western shores of Lake Manyara, these hot springs are so underrated by tourists to the park. Several hot springs seep from the nearby rift valley wall, bubbling out hot water boiling at almost 60 degrees. Tourists have boiled eggs here just to test the hotness of the water bubbled out.
Still tourists to Lake Manyara national park could visit the Maasai village for a cultural retreat with the most famous tribe in East Africa. Alternatively, have a canoeing experience on the lake, enjoy night game drives as well as visiting the Mererani Tanzanite mine.
For accommodation, there are campsites and treehouse camps inside the park for a more authentic and thrilling experience on your safari in Tanzania. If not this, travelers can still stay in the lodges and hotels outside the park.
If it’s a safari in Tanzania, whether to Serengeti national park, Ngorongoro conservation area or Zanzibar beaches, let it not pass by Lake Manyara national park.
Tanzania Tour to Ngorongoro Crater
Often known as Africa’s Eden, Ngorongoro crater is one of the amazing wonders of the world. It attracts thousands of tourists each year just to come and get a glimpse of this one of a kind feature that nature placed here.
Ngorongoro crater is the world’s largest inactive and intact volcanic caldera. It is a UNESCO world heritage site that drowned in mystic beauty in the thickly greened slopes of the Tanzanian highlands. Several travelers have had their way to Tanzania to fully comprehend the accolades and the impressive phrases used when talking about the crater.
The whole idea of a big hole in the ground is so mysterious. Thousands and thousands of animals, almost all wildlife species calling Ngorongoro crater a home, it’s surely Africa’s Eden. Nothing you can fail to spot here.
Covering almost 260 square kilometers, tourists to the carter enjoy game drives down into the crater to spot numerous prides of lions, zebras, buffaloes, hippos, warthogs, waterbucks, wildebeests and many other animals that comfortably found peace in staying in this wonderful feature.
The spectacular bowl shaped crater is gold carpeted with the golden shimmering grass. Over 30000 animals dwell here, where you are in the crater, you will sight the countless animals with their young ones walking, playing and feeding on the grass.
Because Ngorogoro has so many herbivores, they attract predators like lions that behave like kings and queens of the crater as they silently wait upon their prey.
The crater walls are about 400-610 meters high above the caldera’s floor. The rim is heavily forested, giving a stunning scenery at the ends of the crater. Even if the crater is distinctly enclosed, there is so much to behold on a quest for the natural beauty that stationed here.
Even if most of the safarians only look out for the big game in the crater, there is a variety of bird species that lead their lives in the woods on the crater rim. The beautiful sounds of the birds here could remind you of those lovely lullabies you used to sleep on when you were a baby.
A safari to Ngorogoro crater in Tanzania allows you leave the rest of the world, the hustle and bustle behind and just embark on making lifetime memories with Africa’s wilderness.
Note that this crater is situated in the Ngorogoro conservation area which was once part of Serengeti national park. The conservation encompasses an extensive area of short grass plains on the southern side of Serengeti as well as the Ngorogoro highlands; a series of large extinct volcanoes lying on the western side of the Great Rift Valley.
Accessing Ngorogoro crater is nolonger a hustle. For the adventurous travelers with enough time can travel by road, driving through a well paved highway. For those limited by time and with enough dollars, they can fly to the crater. A light aircraft flies from Dar to Arusha on a daily basis. Still other airstrips in Tanzania fly to Arusha, the closest town to Ngorogoro.
When it gets to accommodation, no tourist has ever failed to get where to stay on any trip to Ngorogoro. While there is no accommodation with in the crater, several lodges and hotels have been constructed at the crater rim and the rift valley escarpment.
Other attractions to spot in Ngorogoro crater are Empakaai crater Aand Olduvai gorge; beautiful features positioned so close to Ngorogoro. Tourists have also engaged in Maasai village trip to visit the nomadic people who first inhabited Serengeti before it was made a national park. This visit takes you to the bomas; the small circular homesteads of the Maasai people.
Ngorogoro crater safari is just an amazing trip that no traveler to Africa deserves to miss. Just mark it off your bucketlist with a short trip to the crater.
Tanzania Safaris to Serengeti National Park
This is Tanzanians flagship product in the tourism industry, a destination that leaves all tourists mesmerized and very satisfied by what they have experienced.
The question is? , What secret does one miss when you don’t visit Serengeti national park?
To begin with, Serengeti national park is one of the oldest national parks in Tanzania in the Serengeti ecosystem in Masai Mara and simuyu region; it derives its name from the Masai word sirugitu which means “the place where the land moves forever”, suitably describing the sea of endless grasslands and rolling, grass hills.
Initially, the open plains of the eastern Mara Region used to be for the Masai people to graze cattle, which they named “endless plains, when the first European explorer, Austrian Oscar Baumann, visited the area in 1892. It is important to know that the name “Serengeti” is a guess of the word used by the Masai to explain the area, siringet, which literary means “the place where the land runs on forever”.
In records, the first American to enter the Serengeti whose name is Stewart Edward White explored the northern Serengeti in 1913. Then he returned to Serengeti in the 1920s and camped in the area around Seronera for three months.
But due to hunting, the lions became scarce making the British colonial administration designate the area AS a partial game reserve of 800 acres (3.2 km2) in 1921 and a full one in 1929. This the beginning of Serengeti National Park, which was established in 1951 and gained more fame after the initial work of Bernhard Grzimek and his son Michael in the 1950s, they produced and film, Serengeti shall not die, which was widely recognized as one of the early pieces of nature conservation documentary.
The park is Tanzania’s oldest national park providing the main route to the Northern Safari Circuit around Lake Manyara National Park, Tarangire National Park, Arusha National Park, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The park has approximately 2,500 lions and over 1 million wildebeest which are believed to be God’s very last creation with different body parts that resemble those of other animals.
The park is covering an area of approximately 15,000 km², yet when the area covered by the migration, this figure can be doubled in size! When thinking of Serengeti, several Travelers see a vast, endless plain covered in migrating Wildebeest and Zebra.
Besides, the grassland in the Serengeti region (particularly in the southern regions), the gigantic area offers a wide range of landscapes and ecosystems with endless grassy plains that give way to areas of iconic acacia forests, to lush riverine vegetation, desiccated soda lakes, and ageless granite outcrops. It is an ultimate highlight of great Northern Tanzania and a true wildlife reserve in East Africa.
It is at this destination that visitors witness the famous for its massive annual migration of the wildebeest and zebras seeking new pastures, these herds shift from the southern plains to the Northern side. This migration lasts for roughly 10 months in Tanzania, comprising of over 2 million Wildebeest and Zebra wandering through an area larger than Leister province. On the other hand, it is very possible to miss this lifetime migration due to the enormous size of this area, it is at this point that the crocodiles an hippos are very active, waiting for their meal, the lions also very anxious and steadfast for what to eat.
This annual migration follows a yearly cycle that animals use on a 1,200 km journey through Tanzania and Kenya. Many predators that prey on the great herds lie in wait for their annual food. These are the crocodiles, large pride of Lions and a significant population of Cheetahs and others such as a large number of Leopards, Hyenas and Painted Dogs, hippos, eland, impala, antelope, baboons, monkeys, and approximately 500 species of birds in the park.
The Northern Serengeti offers visitors a chance of escaping the crowds; this region of the park –stuck between the Central Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve to the north – is remote yet reasonably inaccessible, so, the lucky travelers who make it to this area of the Serengeti are rewarded with stunning landscapes of green rolling hills, granite outcrops and acacia woodlands dotting open savanna, unbelievable wildlife, and with massive herds of wildebeest and zebra making risky cross of the croc-infested Mara River during the Great Migration in June and July and again in September, October and November. It is important to note that this sector of the park is home to the greatest absorption of elephants, lions, leopards, cheetah, and hyena as well as diverse animals such as giraffe, topi, eland and hippo in the park.
Walking safaris are a recent addition in the Serengeti, however, you can also engage in hot air ballooning that gives you a chance of catching the clear views of these animals, Game drives in both the north and the south, birding, and many more.
For all travelers, Serengeti national park is open all year round but the most recommended time to visit this amazing destination is June until October, while for Mara River crossings the peak months are from July to September.
Accommodation options are limited in the Northern Serengeti since there are very few permanent lodges in the area. During the peak season of the Migration, July to October, camps are erected into the areas strategically located to catch the exciting Mara River crossings. Most of the accommodation is luxury, though an option for budget and midrange travelers can also be got.
Serengeti national park is a True hub for wildlife and diversity, it can be accessed through road and air depending on your choice, and so, you remain with no Excuse but to book your trip.
Tanzania Safari Adventures to Tarangire National Park
John Hemingway said, “If I have ever seen magic, it has been in Africa.” Magic that overwhelms the soul with the fresh breath, ever changing landscapes, varied vegetation types, people so kind and hospitable, yet all this found in one package dubbed the African Safari.
African safaris are not far from South African safaris, as most of the tourists to the continent head to South Africa’s Kruger national park, or just want beach relaxations at the famous Cape Town. Others probably visit Zimbabwe for the world’s largest waterfalls; Victoria falls.
In the recent years, the tourist numbers to East Africa have highly raised. This is one African region that has relatively unknown destinations. But from the time Tanzania’s Serengeti national park and the Ngorongoro crater ranked among the ten wonders of the world, thousands of tourists have been hitting the country to behold on these world ventures.
Visiting Tanzania would be equal to Serengeti national park safaris. For its big five experience, (lions, leopards, buffalos, rhinos and elephants) and the Great migration of the wildebeests.
However, one rarely visited national park in Tanzania, yet with so much to explore is Tarangire national park. Covering approximately 2850 square kilometers, this amazing park is located in Northern Tanzania, just south of Lake Manyara.
Tarangire national park is famous for its huge herds of elephants, travelers here oftenly see big elephant families. The forests made of giant baobab trees and the rugged landscape which is incredibly diverse makes Tarangire stand out from all other destinations in the Northern circuit safari in Tanzania.
For travelers who want that much further off the beaten track experience, getting into Tanzania’s real wild areas, Tarangire national park is the perfect destination for you. The good news is that it’s an all year round destination, tourists can visit the park anytime though the best time would be the summer time.
Wildlife. Tarangire is a home to all Tanzania’s most beautiful animals except the rhinos. From the dik-dik, lions, elephants, buffaloes, leopards, gazelles, zebras to the towering African Giraffe and many others, nothing you can fail to see in the park. Tarangire also has endangered species that cannot be found anywhere else in the country except here; the fringe-eared oryx with its graceful horns, the towering greater kudu, and the tiny Ashy Starling.
More about wildlife, Tarangire national park homes Tanzania’s largest population of elephants. Herds of more than 300 elephants and quite a good number of wild cats that no tourists ever visited the park and failed to spot a lion or leopard.
Migration. The park is one of the few national parks in Africa where the great migration of the wildebeests takes places. Between June and November every year, Tarangire hosts the great migration of the wildebeests, zebras and gazelles. Even if the scene is not as impressive as in Serengeti national park. Also Tarangire river literary becomes the only water source to the migrating animals, which attracts several predators like lions and leopards who prey on them.
Bird life. Tarangire national park has a variety of habitats and food sources, making it a popular destination for birds as well as bird watchers. With over 500 bird species, Tarangire is the best birding spot in Tanzania. Birders here spot the yellow-collared lovebirds, lilac breasted rollers, mousebirds, swifts, striped swallows, starlings, bee-eaters, hammerkops, plovers, Kori bustards, bateleur eagles, steppe eagles, and the gigantic lappet-faced vulture among others.
Travelers to the park still get to visit the different ecosystems, tour the Kolo Rocks Art site, do camping, guided nature walks and other thrilling activities in the park.
The best options of accommodation are situated outside the pack, from super budget lodges, midrange to high end luxury lodges. However, even in the park, there are campsites and camping tents for those who want to sleep in the wild.
The right way to go on a safari in Tanzania is to go to Tarangire national park. It’s a full package of all African wonders that you would wish to explore.
