Lake Manyara National Park

Park Overview
Lake Manyara National Park, located beneath the cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment on the edge of the Rift Valley, was first declared a game reserve in 1957 and later elevated to a National Park. The Park, recognized for its incredible beauty encompasses an area of 330 sq km, of which 200 sq km is covered by the Lake.
Lake Manyara National park boasts wide-ranging ecosystems, incredible bird species and breathtaking scenery. Its bush plains, baobab strewn cliffs, ground water forests and algae-streaked hot springs flavor wonderful ecological diversity.

Lake Manyara Zebras

Location
Lake Manyara is situated on the way to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti and the park is well worth a stop in its own right. There is also the park’s outstanding background, bordered to the west by the dramatic Rift Valley’s western escarpment. The entrance gate lies 126km west of Arusha one and half hours drive along a newly surfaced road, close to the racially varied market town of Mto Wa Mbu.

Dust Bath

Wildlife
Lake Manyara National Park takes pride in diversified habitat is mirrored by its varied fauna, with some of the more common and visible large mammal species being the buffalo, elephant, giraffe, zebra, lion and wildebeests. Prominently renowned for its tree-climbing lions, which spend most of the day spread out along the branches of acacia trees, Lake Manyara is also home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys. Along with the astonishing tree climbing lions there are the usual browsers and grazers as well as the curios-looking banded mongoose.
Bird life
The park is rich with fantastic bird life. More than 400 species of birds including African spoonbill, cormorants, flamingo, pelican, red billed quelea, sacred ibis and Egyptian geese, white pelican and white faced duck are prominent in this vicinity. Aside from the park, the alkaline soda-content Lake Manyara also thrives with several brackish water birds

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such as the Pink-hued flamingos plus thousands of colorful specks blustering off the lake shore.
Getting There and Around
By road- charter or scheduled flight from Arusha, en route to Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti.
Lake Manyara Park Safari
Birding – Worth noting is that Manyara, despite its small size, is a great birding reserve. Manyara provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania’s birdlife. More than 400 species have been recorded, and even a first-time visitor to Africa might reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one day. Highlights include thousands of pink-hued flamingos on their perpetual migration, in addition to several large water birds such as cormorants, pelicans and storks.
Cultural tours – Cultural tours are conducted in the racially varied market town of Mto Wa Mbu. This village, which lies close to Lake Manyara entrance gate, sees a large volume of tourist traffic and is said locally to be the place in Tanzania where representatives of 120 Tanzanian tribes are occupant.
Game drives – The compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers a virtual microcosm of the Tanzanian safari experience. Lake Manyara and its well-defined game viewing circuit kick off a high proportion of safaris through northern Tanzania.
Forest Walks- On entering the Park, it is possible to spot the wild animals in their natural habitats guided by trained guides who have a keen insight into the forests’ ecology. The main attraction of forest walks is the habitual chimpanzees (Lake Manyara forest walks are limited to six people per group). It is estimated that there are between 400 and 800 chimps in the park. The most notable resident of the forest is the Olive baboon and the shy bushbuck might also be encountered.
Other activities include Mountain Biking and Canoe safaris.
Best Time to Visit
The dry season of July to October is the best time to visit to spot large mammals, whilst the wet season of November to June is the best time for bird watching, water falls and canoeing.