Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park is home to the greatest concentration of animals after the Serengeti. Enjoy it all while staying at one of the most unique, luxurious hotels in the world: the Tarangire Treetops.

Named after the life-giving Tarangire River which runs through the park (and is the only source of water for wildlife available during the dry season), the National Park is located in Tanzania’s Manyara Region. With fewer tourists visiting Tarangire than the nearby Ngrongoro or Serengeti, the park can feel more secluded and can give a greater sense of being on a private safari. Wildlife viewing is year-round in Tarangire, but the dry season brings a greater number of migratory animals.

Spotting herds of hundreds of elephants are fairly common, as are sightings of migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, gazelle, impala antelope, hartebeest antelope and eland (the world’s largest antelope). Waterbuck antelopes, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs and olive baboons (also known as the Anubis baboon) frequently congregate along the grassy savannah plains and swamplands. Only at Tarangire National Park, can you further encounter such animals as dry-country antelope, fringe-eared oryx antelope and the long-necked, giraffe-like gerenuk antelope (sometimes referred to as the giraffe gazelle). Other animals include rhinoceroses, warthogs, dwarf mongoose, dik-diks (a species of small antelopes) and lesser kudu antelopes. Lions and leopards climb trees here, along with pythons, so be on the lookout for fruit swinging off branches – which on closer glance, may actually be a twitching tail.

Bird-watchers flock to this park as it is also home to between 500-550 bird varieties, making it the largest breeding habitat anywhere in the world. They are often found in swamps but can be spotted throughout the park. Among the many birds that may be seen: yellow-collared lovebirds (also called masked lovebirds or eye ring lovebirds), rufous-tailed weavers, ashy starlings, African Scops Owls, Nubian woodpecker, pygmy Falcon (the smallest raptor in the world at less than eight inches), yellow-necked spurfowl (also known as the yellow-necked francolin), northern white-crowned shrike, black-necked weaver, white-faced whistling duck, red billed hornbill and African marsh harrier. Ground-dwelling birds are also represented: including ostriches, ground hornbills and Kori bustards (the world’s heaviest flying bird).