Tarangire National Park

The Tarangire National Park has been a wonderful protected natural area in northern Tanzania since 1970.
It is located 118 km west of Arusha, the city from which all safaris to the northern parks depart, on the road leading to Dodoma, southeast of Lake Manyara. It takes its name from the Tarangire river, which crosses it and varies its flow according to the season, but which supports the fauna within the park with its waters, so it is always extremely beautiful and interesting to visit throughout the year. . The Tarangire park is like the park of the Baobabs (Adansonia) or of the elephants the park has an extension of 2,600 km, the altitude within the park is around 1,100 meters s.l.d.m.
The park is inhabited not only by the numerous elephants but also by zebras, wildebeest, alcelafi, minor kudu, dik-dik, numerous species of gazelles, buffaloes, giraffes, elephants, felines such as cheetahs and lions.
In addition to the numerous baobabs that are characteristic of the park inside, the famous umbrella acacia (Acacia tortilis) is also typical.

The Baobab

The term Baobab comes from the French baobab in turn of African origin, The exact etymology is not known: according to the American Heritage Dictionary it derives from the Arabic and means "father of many seeds".
They are deciduous trees with large trunks, which reach heights between 5 and 25 m (exceptionally 30 m); the diameter of the trunk can reach 7 m (exceptionally 11 m). They are famous for their ability to store water inside the bulging trunk, which can hold up to 120,000 liters of water to withstand the harsh drought conditions of some regions. The branches, arranged radially at the top of the trunks, are completely bare during the dry season. The foliage is filled, for a few months a year, with compound palmate leaves. In the temporally very limited era of flowering they exhibit large, very fragrant flowers that hatch at night. They produce ovoid fruits with an edible pericarp and a large kidney-shaped seed.
The leaves are used as an edible vegetable in all the areas of distribution of the African continent. They are eaten both fresh and in the form of dry powder. The dried pulp of the fruit, after the separation between the seeds and the fibers, is directly eaten or mixed in the porridge or in milk.
The seeds are mainly used as a thickener for soups, but can also be fermented in condiments, roasted for direct consumption, or minced to extract vegetable oil. The tree is also a source of fiber, dye and fuel.

Click on the map to see where Tanzania's parks are