This park was gazetted in June 1970, having been a Game Reserve since 1957. Located in Arusha, Dodoma covering an Area 260,000 ha with an Altitude 1,100 meters. Tarangire National Park is named after the Tarangire river which flows northwards through the park before discharging into Lake Burungi, which lies just outside the park boundary to the north-west. The rolling hills and swamps are typical of the Masai steppe country to the east and south. The northern sector of the park is dominated by Acacia tortilis woodland and scattered baobab Adansonia trees.

Other habitat zones include Acacia - Commiphora and Combretum - Dalbergia woodland. The extensive swamps are seasonal and wellvegetated with little open water. Mature stands of Balanitesaegyptiaca often dominate swamp edge and riverine vegetation. There are few large hills within the park; Lolkisale (2,132 meters) lies just to the east with the Sangaiwe Hills and Mount Kwaraha (2,415 meters) beyond the western border. Average rainfall is only 600 mm/year.

There is no species list for the park; the total is likely to exceed 450 species. Globally threatened species include Falco naumanni, which occurs in flocks of hundreds in April, following the start of the rains when invertebrate food-supplies are abundant and the park provides secure roost-sites. Parusfringillinus breeds at low densities in the south-east of the park, the western edge of the range of its central plateau population.

Three Tanzanian endemics, Agapornispersonatus, Cosmopsarus unicolor and Histurgopsruficauda, have substantial populations within the park and a fourth, Agapornisfischeri, is a regular visitor. Of special interest are the relatively high numbers of Anthuscaffer, a local and rare species in East Africa. Ephippiorhynchussenegalensis is reasonably common, with up to 16 adult birds having been seen on the edge of Silale swamp. Although the park is only 30 km from the wall of the Eastern Rift, it is nevertheless outside the volcanic belt and forms the western limit for many birds typical of the Somali - Masai biome.