Tarangire national park is about the same distance to Kilimanjaro airport as Manyara but for some reason does not seem to feature as prominently on tourist itineraries. The park is located along the river Tarangire and attracts a lot of wildlife during the dry season. We were traveling at the end of May and rainy season was just starting. We only had one half-day game drive in the park but got to see lions, giraffes, all sorts of gazelles and excellent bird life.
We spotted a lion in a tree – similarly to Lake Manyara lions here climb in the trees which they do not do in most other places. We then came across three male lions resting on the road. We followed them as they went towards the river later. On the river we saw a big group of giraffes – apparently properly called a tower of giraffes. At some point we counted fourteen of them coming down to the water for a drink.
Tarangire was a nice end for our Tanzania northern circuit safari. Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire are each brilliant with lots and lots of wildlife. After spending all the time driving around we were also ready to head out to Zanzibar for some underwater time.