Tarangire National Park
Tarangire's pythons climb trees, as do its lions and leopards, lounging in the
branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail. Herds of up to 300
elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest,
zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons.
It's the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem
- a smorgasbord for predators – and the one place in Tanzania where
dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and
peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.
The fierce sun sucks the moisture from the landscape, baking the earth a dusty
red, the withered grass as brittle as straw. The Tarangire River has shrivelled to a shadow of
its wet season self. But it is choked with wildlife. Thirsty nomads have wandered hundreds
of parched kilometres knowing that here, always, there is water. During the rainy season,
the seasonal visitors scatter over a 20,000 sq km (12,500 sq miles) range until they
exhaust the green plains and the river calls once more. But Tarangire's mobs of
elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year
round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species
in one habitat anywhere in the world.
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