Covering about 330km², of which typically two-thirds is underwater, Lake Manyara National Park is a small park by African standards. However, it's also very beautiful and contains tremendous diversity of habitats, animals and especially birds.

Set beneath the spectacular backdrop of the Great Rift Valley's steep western escarpment, this long, narrow park protects an area between the escarpment and Lake Manyara. The parks namesake is a shallow, alkaline lake which expands and contracts with the seasons within a long, silvery bowl of salt deposits. Adjacent to it are wide, grassy floodplains and, further away, bands of mixed acacia woodlands. Further still, next to the escarpment, are patches of enchanting evergreen forests, which are sustained by perennial groundwater springs issuing from the base of the escarpment.

Lake Manyara's game includes good numbers of elephant, buffalo and wildebeest along with plenty of giraffe. Look more carefully for zebra, warthog, impala, Kirk's dik-dik, waterbuck in marshy areas near some of the springs, and klipspringer on the slopes of the escarpment. The broken forests and escarpment make it good country for leopard, whilst Manyara's healthy lion population are famous for their tree-climbing antics. (Whilst unusual, this isn't as unique to the park as is often claimed.) Immediately obvious to most visitors are the huge troops of baboons – which often number several hundred and are widely regarded as Africa's largest.

As with the habitats, the birdlife here is exceptionally varied. In the middle of the lake you'll often see flocks of pelicans and the pink-shading of distant flamingos, whilst the margins and floodplains feed innumerable herons, egrets, stilts, stalks, spoonbills and other waders. With so much water around, the woodlands are equally productive, but it's the evergreen forests where you'll spot some more entertaining species such as the noisy silvery-cheeked hornbills, crowned eagles and crested guineafowl.

Lake Manyara National Park is very easy to access: it's about 90 minutes' drive Arusha and barely 30 minutes' from the Ngorongoro Crater. Because of this, some of the northern side of the park can get very busy, especially in the afternoons. To see the park at its best, we recommend that you either stay at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, or spend two nights somewhere close, entering the park early for a full-day safari.


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