Lake Manyara National Park is located about 2 hours drive from Arusha. At 318sq km (123 sq miles) it is a small but very rewarding National Park.
LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK
Lake Manyara National Park is located about 2 hours drive from Arusha. At 318sq km (123 sq miles) it is a small but very rewarding National Park that includes much of Lake Manyara and Rift Valley escarpment, which in places is 2000 feet high.
The Park is best known for its tree-climbing lions and the elephant population that was studied by Iain Douglas Hamilton in the 60’s. Your chances of seeing elephant here are very good and as they are quite used to vehicles in this Park you will usually get very close. When it comes to lion, well – there are lions here and they are often seen, but not usually sitting in trees! There are quite a few places around East Africa where lions do climb trees (Selous, Katavi, Lake Nakuru, Queen Elizabeth and more) so the reason that Manyara is famed for them is just one of those odd things.
In addition to lion and elephant, Lake Manyara’s terrain is so varied that it is home to a diverse range of animal species and with a bit of luck you will see herds of buffalo, giraffe, zebra, hippos and perhaps leopard. The other up side to this park is the setting in which you see the game – it is spectacular. Back dropped by the rugged 2000ft escarpment, fringed by the green grass of the lakeshore and mirrored in the magnificent soda lake. Manyara is somewhere that the scenery and the dramatic setting are as much part of the experience as the game viewing.
Lake Manyara National Park Tanzania Manyara Safari
Bird life in Lake Manyara’s varied habitats is also impressive and over 300 species have been recorded here
Much of the park is covered by quite thick acacia woodland and so you need to drive slowly. In the northern section there are a number of clear streams, which flow from the porous rock at the base of the rift wall, whilst further south where the rock is impervious, waterfalls cascade down the escarpment face during the rainy season.
Like the other Rift Valley lakes, Manyara’s water is alkaline and greater and lesser flamingo thrive on the algae. Pink backed pelicans and yellow billed storks nest in one of the largest colonies of its type in East Africa at the northern end of the lake (which explains the smell as you approach from the village of Mto Wa Umbu).
