Lake Manyara National Park

Description:Lake Manyara has a considerably different landscape from any of the other parks. Picture lush woodlands and the beaches of this Rift Valley lake where giraffe, elephants and wildebeest enjoy an endless supply of water. You will often see these enormous animals in the water, sitting, sipping or just cooling off. Due to this unique habitat, there are hundreds of bird species able to live in the forests and the ultimate site-seeing prize of this area is the tree-climbing lion.

Although this park is relatively small, it is still quite impressive. Most of the park is covered in forest or thick bush, sometimes making it difficult to spot wildlife. On shorter itineraries, we usually recommend omitting Lake Manyara,

but it still gets visited frequently because of its convenient location between Tarangire and Ngorongoro Crater. This is the only park where you can do night game drives within the park boundaries.

Location:Approximately 2.5 hours from Arusha on the road to the Ngorongoro Crater

Things 2 Do: Game-drives, Mountain Biking, Forest Hike, Night Game Drive, Nature Walk

Time: Can be visited in one day, but biking or hiking require a separate day. Might be excluded on a short itinerary.

Animals:Elephants, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Hippo, Impala, Bushbuck, Waterbuck, Klipspringers, Zebra, Giraffe, Mongoose, Warthog, Leopards and the famous tree-climbing Lions, Blue Monkeys, Vervet Monkeys, Baboons, and over 380 bird-species including impressive flocks of Flamingos feeding on the lake’s algae.

| More...