Tarangire National Park

Tarangire's defining features are its river, its baobabs and its elephants. The Tarangire River threads through the park and, in the dry season, becomes a lifeline that draws in one of the largest elephant populations in East Africa — herds of a hundred animals or more are common between July and October.

The park's ancient baobab trees, some over a thousand years old, punctuate open plains and swamp-edge woodland. Their scale and shape make Tarangire arguably the most photogenic of the Northern Circuit parks.

Tarangire also delivers a quieter, less trafficked safari than the Serengeti. Predator sightings are strong — resident lion prides, leopard in the acacia woodland and an increasing number of cheetah on the southern plains — and the birdlife is exceptional, with over 550 recorded species.