Baobab trees
Giant trunks.
John Mackenzie Burke — CC BY-SA 4.0 · ProfessorX — Public domain · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — CC BY 2.0
A park of about 2,850 square kilometres named after the Tarangire River that crosses it, the main water source for wildlife in the dry season. Its landscape is famous for giant baobab trees with massive trunks that look as if they were planted upside down. Tarangire's great draw is its large elephant herds, which gather in their hundreds along the river in the dry months from June to October, making it one of the best places in Tanzania to see them. Wildebeest, zebras and buffalo come in from the surrounding areas too. The park also has lions, leopards and giraffes, more than 550 bird species, green swamps, rocky hills and acacia woodland. It is less crowded than the Serengeti and Ngorongoro and is usually the first stop on a northern safari, as a full day from Arusha or with a night in one of its camps.
Giant trunks.
Dry-season water.
Over 550 species.
Manyara Region, about 120 km south-west of Arusha
The dry season, June to October, when elephants gather in their hundreds along the river.