Lake Manyara National Park-Wildlife and Tree Climbing Lions Tours

Self Drive Tanzania – Lake Manyara National Park is a Tanzanian National Park located both in Arusha and Manyara Regions, Tanzania. The two administrative regions have no jurisdiction over the parks. The park is governed by the Tanzania National Parks Authority.

The majority of the land area of the park is a narrow strip running between the Gregory Rift wall to the west and Lake Manyara, an alkaline or soda-lake, to the east.

Lake Manyara National Park consists of 330 km2 (130 sq. mi) of arid land, forest, and a soda lake which covers as much as 200 km2 (77 sq. mi) of land during the wet season but is nearly nonexistent during the dry season.

How to Access Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania

Lake Manyara National Park is very easy to access: it’s about 90 minutes’ drive from Arusha and barely an hour from the Ngorongoro Crater. Because of this, some of the northern side of the park can get very busy, especially in the afternoons.

By Road

By Road you transfer in a 4×4 Fleet from Arusha Town to Karatu Town where you leave from to the Park and when you reach here, enjoy your wildlife safaris watching wildlife animals and tree climbing lions in their natural vegetation habitat on a Game Drive.

By Air 

Lake Manyara National Park can be accessed by use of Air where you land at Kilimanjaro International Airport then transfer to Arusha where you transfer from to Lake Manyara National Park via Karatu Town. When you reach the Park, enjoy Wildlife Safaris as you go from one place to another.

What to See in Lake Manyara National Park Tanzania

To see the park at its best, we recommend that you either stay within the park or spend two nights somewhere close, entering the park early for a full-day safari.

Lake Manyara National Park is known for the flamingos that inhabit the lake. During the wet season, they inhabit the edges of the lake in flocks of thousands but they are not so present during the dry season.

More than 400 species of birds inhabit the park and many remain throughout the year. Because of this Lake Manyara National Park is a good spot for bird watching.

Visitors to the park can expect to see upwards of 100 different species of bird on any day.
Leopards, lions, cheetahs, elephants, blue monkeys, dik-dik, gazelle, hippo, giraffe, impala, and more inhabit the park and many can be seen throughout the year.

There is a hippo pond at one end of the park where visitors can get out of their cars and observe from a safe distance. The leopards and lions are both known to lounge in the trees while not hunting for prey.

Among the birds found in this park include, 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 guinea fowl.