Learning how it works in Tanzania was not easy; we had hoped it would be easier than in Kenya, but it was just the opposite. We arrived at the national park’s gate in the afternoon, but we couldn’t buy a ticket there since a permit must be arranged in advance at the office in town. Locals were offering us car rates that seemed out of this world, around 400 USD per day. We could park there behind the park gate, but since we did not have a car with a driver for the safari, we decided to move on to the nearest Total.
We spent half a day asking our friends to find a car for us, but it didn’t work out well either. Then, by chance, we met a biker from Argentina, Augustin, and he recommended us a car he had used before. We made a deal for $ 220 per day. He also arranged a permit through his friends. We received a PDF file shortly, and the cost for two people and a vehicle with a driver was 342,790 TZS.
Tarangire NP is Africa’s most underrated park. This is a place where elephants dot the plains like cattle, and where lion roars and zebra barks fill the night, all set against a backdrop of constantly changing scenery. Tarangire has the second-highest concentration of wildlife of any Tanzanian national park (after the Serengeti) and reportedly the largest concentration of elephants in the world. The Tarangire ecosystem, with the park as its heart, also has more than 700 resident lions. Less visible, but present, are leopards and cheetahs. Sustaining them are large herds of zebras, wildebeest, hartebeests, elands, oryx, waterbucks, lesser kudus, giraffes and buffalo. With more than 450 species, including many rare ones, Tarangire is among the best birdwatching destinations in Tanzania.
But this is one place where the wildlife tells only half the story. Dominating the park’s 2850 sq km are some of Northern Tanzania’s most varied landscapes. The grandstands of epic baobabs should be reason enough to come, but there are also sun-blistered termite mounds in abundance, as well as grassy savannah plains and vast swamps. Cleaving the park in two is the Tarangire River, whose meandering course and (in some places) steep riverbanks provide a dry-season lure for animals, leading to many stirring wildlife encounters for visitors.
Parking location – Makuyuni: 3.549572S 36.100912E (🚻,🅿️5,000 TZS)