ONE thing you encounter as you enter the gate leading to
Tarangire National Park in Arusha/ Manyara regions is a set of two clearly
visible readings pasted on the notice boards: “Notice to all visitors and rules
and regulations to the park.”
Tarangire
National Park was officially declared in 1970. Other national parks include
Arusha National Park though often ignored by safarigoers. Others are Manyara,
Kilimanjaro, Ruaha, Mikumi, Gombe, Katavi and Mahale (in Rukwa and Katavi
regions respectively) which are seldom visited parks because of their long
distance and airline connections from the international airlines of Kilimanjaro
and Dar es Salaam respectively.
Kitulo
Plateu, also known as Bustan ya Mungu (God’s garden) is home to one of the
greatest flora spectaculars of the world. This is Tanzania’s newest national
park with a rare botanical marvel and home to more than 350 species of plants
and 45 varieties of terrestrial orchids which erupts into wild flower display
of breathtaking scale and diversity.
The
plateau is situated at the Great Ruaha River in Southern Tanzania (about 200
kilometres from Mbeya City). Manyara (Manyara/ Arusha) is famous for its tree
trecking leopards. Mikumi is the fourth largest national park in Tanzania with
highest concentration of zebras, lions and elephants.
Ruaha
is Tanzania’s largest park of about 10,300 square kilometres. It is said to
have the largest elephant population in any of the East African national parks.
It is situated in Iringa Region. Tarangire National Park is famous for its
Baobab trees and elephants.
Actually
Tarangire is said to be home to many African elephants per square kilometre
than anywhere else in the world. It is also one of the world’s latest enclave
of wildlife with more than 5,000 elephants and more than 500 bird species.
Covering a surface area of 2,850 square kilometres, Tarangire National Park
stretches to five districts; Kondoa (Dodoma), Manyara, Kiteto, Babati,
Simanjiro (Manyara region).
It lies
about 120 kilometres South West of Arusha - the northern tourist circle and
about 160 kilometres from Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). The Park is
accessible by vehicle on the Great North Road (Arusha-Dodoma) from Arusha and
turn off at Kwakuchinja Village near Minjingu Phosphate factory. An eight
kilometre gravel road leads to the main entrance gate to the park headquarters
in the north eastern part of the park.
It can
also be accessed through charter flights at Kuro airstrip. Available
information from its offices within the park indicates that Tarangire National
Park is one of the several protected areas in Tanzania, with a hydrological
regime that ensures permanent water source from the park’s exceptional resource
- the Tarangire River.
The
name, Tarangire, according to Ms Mosha, is derived from local dialect of a
minority tribe known as Wambugwe which lives outside the national park. It is
said that in the 1950s the tribe used to get a living through hunting of wild
pigs on the banks of Tarangire River.
They
called it the “mto wa ngiri” meaning the river of wild pigs or warthog which is
a wild pig with two large teeth, that curve upwards at the side of its mouth.
The tribe, Ms Mosha explained through telephone interview from Tarangire
National Park, migrated southwards, settled in Kondoa District, Dodoma Region
and identified themselves as Warangi. They called the river Mtarangire which
means a meandering river.
The
river is used to feed the wildlife inside the park especially during the dry
season. Local communities surrounding the national park use the river for
irrigation purposes. The Tarangire River system is the only reliable source of
water for the wildlife of the Maasai steppe during dry season.
Dry
season usually occurs between July and November and that large mammals which
dispersed throughout the landscape return to the river as natural water holes
outside the park dry up. Wildlife viewing is easiest during this time of the
year as many animals visit the river and swamps for water at least once a day.
The national park extensive swamps are important water catchments.
They
form an important dry season refuge particularly for elephants and buffalos.
The swamps are found in the Eastern and Southern parts of the park. They supply
the river with that flows to the north and west and then empties into Lake
Burunge - a seasonal lake. Reports further say that there are more than 500
bird species in Tarangire National Park, of which several are threatened with
extinction due to hunting and endemic.
The
park’s acacia savannah habitat is also among one of the richest in the world
for breeding birds. Several swamps and water pools in the park offer many
spectacular viewing locations and opportunities for bird viewing. The park also
possesses second only to the Serengeti/ Ngorongoro ecosystem, the highest
concentration of wildlife during the dry season of any area in Tanzania.
Ms
Mosha says the months of July, August, September and October are the dry seasons
for the park and it is during this time that the park has the highest
concentration of wildlife. Tarangire National Park is also known for its river
valley, wetlands, gently rolling hills, rocky outcrops, acacia woodlands and
numerous baobabs.
The trees,
according to the park guide, are significant for elephants that use the barks
of the trees as food especially during dry season. Bird species in the park use
baobab fruits for food and hang their nests that make it difficult to be
accessed by ground wildlife to destroy bird inhabitants. The baobab trees are
of medicinal value to wildlife.
TSN
team which spent about seven hours in Tarangire National Park witnessed
significant number of baobab trees’ barks peeled off, some with fresh wounds
and huge scars on others. The elephants are said to use their tusks to extract
bark pieces from the trees. According to Ms Mosha, Tarangire National Park
situated in Northern Tanzania is where herds of oryx can be seen.
It also
possesses within its acacia habitat, one of the highest known diversities of
breeding birds in a single vegetation type. The parks ecosystem also protects
one of the finest bird speculators and picturesque landscape in Tanzania - the
Silale Swamps. Reports say, many of the large animal population migrate outside
the park to some of the most productive range lands in the world. Many give
bird there.
With
the onset of rains (late March to July), vegetation inside and outside the park
turns green but better food is found outside the park than inside. This usually
happens between November and June, each year. Research findings, according to
available information from the park offices, suggest that the grass of the
Maasai steppe have greater nutritional value than those found inside.
True to
this assertion, TSN Board and Management were a bit disappointed about the
limited population of wildlife in the park. The only visible wildlife inside
the park at this time is the large herds of elephants and limited giraffe
population. They later realised that they visited the park at the wrong time.
During peak tourist season, Tarangire National Park despite its significance, a
significant number of wildlife including rhinos, have become extinct in
Tarangire National Park especially during 1980s because of poaching.
The
surface area of the park has also been reduced by five per cent due to human
activity. There are also set of tariffs for Tarangire National Park visitors.
They range from 1,500/- for national aged 16 and above. Foreign adults will
have to part with 35 US dollars per day.
Camping
fees range between 1,000/- for indigenous adults and 20 US dollars for
foreigners. Guiding and walking fees are charged at 20 US dollars per day.
Accommodation fees are charged at 5,000/- for all ages and 30 US dollars for
foreigners.
There
are also night game drive fees at a charge of 25,000/- per person and 50 US
dollars for foreigners, walking safari fees in which short distances are
charged at 5,000/- per person and 20 US dollars for foreigners. Long distance
walking fees charge 5,000/- for nationals and 50 US dollars for foreigners.
There
are vehicle accident fees around the park with a charge of 200,000/- per
vehicle of all types. Over-speeding charges cost 50,000/- per vehicle per day.
All fees are valid for only 24 hours. Authorities in national parks have
announced an increase of entrance fee for local tourists from the current
1,500/- per adult to 10,000/- beginning July, this year and it has been
received with mixed reaction.
Several
industry watchers hailed the increase, saying it will help limit the number of
visitors with the aim to maintain the ecosystem. But some watchers are of the
views that increasing park fees defeats the purpose of encouraging Tanzanians
to visit the national parks, thus, promote the national heritage.
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