Taking this circuit in a clockwise direction, you drive south from Engelhard Bridge alongside the Tarangire River, through flat-topped acacia parkland to within 2 kms of Kuro. Here you turn right and soon find yourself crossing a belt of Combretum-Dalbergia woodlands as you head for the western boundary of the Park. Before reaching the boundary you re-enter acacia parkland and follow the boundary northwards. Just before the Tarangire River you turn right again, once more crossing the Combretum woodland back to Engelhard Bridge. The complete circuit is 80 kms.

As you drive south you may be lucky enough to see a black rhino. Black rhinos were found throughout the park but recent poaching for their horns has drastically reduced their numbers. Rhinos are usually solitary as adults. The most stable association is that of a mother and calf which are usually found within a well defined home range. The range size varies according to vegetation and the density of the rhino population.

Black rhinos are browsers and have pointed prehensile lips adapted for browsing off thorny shrubs. They feed at night, dawn and dusk, resting during the heat of the day. They have a good sense of hearing and smell but their sight is poor beyond 30 meters. A distinctive feature of rhinos is their habit of pooping in the same spot, then scattering it with their hind feet.

In this area, as elsewhere, you will see the candelabra tree with its dark green, succulent branches. The trees are readily eaten by rhinos if they get knocked or blown down, but are not otherwise damaged by animals.

Leopards are quite common in Tarangire and should be looked for in the branches of trees, where they rest during the heat of the day. They often carry their prey up into the branches in order to get it out of the reach of lions, hyenas and, to a lesser extent, vultures.

Leopards are solitary creatures, males only associating with the females when they are in heat. Their markings are roseate clusters of spots, unlike the cheetah which has single spots. Leopard are traditionally one of the most dangerous of the wild cats, and if a leopard has cubs you should approach with caution.

Whereas the cheetah hunts by speed, the leopard catches its prey by careful, stealthy stalking. Leopards have a wide range of prey; they are particularly fond of impalas and gazelles, but will also eat dikdiks, hares, game birds and occasionally monkeys and baboons. When baboons spot a leopard from the safety of trees they will often bark loudly at the intruder. Leopards, although expert climbers, can only hunt on the ground. Vervet monkeys make a particular vocalization when they see a leopard and the whole group responds by rushing up the nearest tree. Leopards do not roar like lions, but make a noise like sawing wood and a 'grunt cough'.

Any patch of thick brush in this area is the place to look for lesser kudu. These animals are very shy and must be approached slowly. They usually spend the day in dense bush and move mostly at dusk and in the early mornings. The male, with his three-spiral horns, is grey in color, and the female, which has no horns, reddish-fawn. Both sexes have about 13 narrow white vertical stripes around the body, conspicuous white throat and neck patches and a short white mane along the neck and back. Lesser kudu are often seen in pairs, perhaps with a juvenile. They browse on leaves, young shoots and twigs. A pair have a home range of about 2 sq km although young males may move around more.

The palm trees common in the river valley are doum palms. Interestingly palms, unlike trees, have only one growing point, which means that a palm will die if it is damaged. Palm swifts nest in the branches of the trees. They build their nests by attaching a small pad of feathers to the mid-rib of the leaf with sticky saliva. From the ground these nests often look like a mass of cobwebs.

Of the nine species of game birds so far recorded in the Park, the three most common are the yellow-necked spurfowl, crested francolin and helmeted guinea fowl. Vulturine guinea fowl have been sighted near Oldoinyo Ngahari in the eastern side of the Park, but that is at the extreme edge of their range.

After having turned westward into the Combretum-Dalbergia woodland you may see herds of eland. The eland is a large cow-like antelope weighing as much as 900 kgs., and measuring nearly two meters at the top of the hump. In color the females are reddish- fawn and the males are grey. Both sexes have lateral stripes round the barrel of the body and a conspicuous tuft of dark hair on the dewlap. Both males and females have heavily spiraled or corkscrew horns which grow straight back from the head.

Eight kilometers short of the Park boundary near a kopje is a fine view of Lake Burungi, with Lake Manyara, the three peaks of Milima Mitatu and the rift wall in the background. Lakes Burungi and Manyara are saucer-shaped depressions with saline water and are the home of flamingos and pelicans.

The soda lakes are very shallow, rarely reaching a depth of more than two meters or so at the height of the rains, and often drying up completely by the end of the dry season. They are formed in natural depressions in land from which there is a very limited outlet. The surface water which fills them carries in various mineral elements, chiefly calcium and sodium. When these lakes do dry up through evaporation they glitter with a white encrustation of salts which looks, at a distance, like snow.

On reaching the track, which here forms the Park boundary, turn right and drive along Lake Burungi. In the valley, where you re- enter thick cover, you might catch sight of a bushbuck. Bushbuck are medium- sized antelopes with rufous-brown coats and light spots on the haunches. They have vertical stripes on the body and white half collars round the base of their necks. Short, single-spiral horns are present only in the males, but both sexes have white, rather bushy tails, which are raised as a 'flag' as they bound for cover. The lion is the main predator of the bushbuck although small cats and pythons may eat the young.

In order to complete the circuit and return to the Engelhard Bridge, turn right again leaving Tarangire River on your left. The Engelhard Bridge is named after a benefactor whose family continues to contribute funds to develop Tarangire National Park.