Guide to Lake Manyara National Park in 2025

Guide to Lake Manyara National Park in 2025 : Lake Manyara National Park is located in the northern part of Tanzania, around 120 kilometres west of Arusha Town. With its 330 square kilometres of size the park offers an environment for a safari tour.  Lake Manyara National Park offers a wilderness experience in diverse habitats, from its Rift Valley soda lake to dense woodlands and steep mountainside. More so the park famous for its unusual tree-climbing lions and the remarkable elephant that can be spotted at different spots of the national park. Lake Manyara is also consisting of woodlands forests, bush plains, baobab strewn cliffs, and algae-streaked hot springs which are habitat for a variety of different birds as well as mammals. The shores of Lake Manyara, is home to a huge number of pink flamingos, attract over 400 species of birds, creating a paradise for bird enthusiasts.

Wildlife in Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara National Park has a variety of mammals include wildebeests, zebras, Thomson’s gazelle and Granit’s gazella. Other notable mammal species include bushbuck, waterbuck, impala, cape buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, warthogs, elephants, predators such as lion, leopard, African wild cat, shotted hyena, black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox, serval, honey badger, African civet, genet species and several mongoose species. The park is only national parks in Tanzania where you can see the tree-climbing lions besides Ishasha sector in queen Elizabeth national park in Uganda.

Lake Manyara National Park hosts  over 400 recorded bird species including Greater Flamingo and Lesser Flamingo , Ostrich, Great Cormorant , Long-tailed Cormorant , Great White Pelican , Pink-backed Pelican , Shoebill , Hamerkop , White-faced Whistling-Duck, White-backed Duck, Black-bellied Bustard , Little Bittern, Black Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Egret, Gray Heron Egyptian Goose, African Darter,  Black-faced Sandgrouse,  Abdim’s Stork, African Woolly-necked Stork, Yellow-billed Stork, Saddle-billed Stork among others.

Activities /What to do in Lake Manyara National Park

Game drives/game viewing

Game drives are of the popular activities in Lake Manyara National Park way where you can explore the park and observe its diverse wildlife, with the help of a professional driver guide in a comfortable safari vehicle.  Guided game drives in Lake Manyara National Park are done early morning or late afternoon, when animals are most active. A night game drive is specifically done at night to spot nocturnal animals like leopards.

During your game drives, you will have the opportunity to spot variety of wildlife species such as elephants, wildebeests, zebras, Thomson’s gazelle, Granit’s gazella, bushbuck, waterbuck, impala, cape buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, warthogs, elephants, lion, leopard, genet species, several mongoose species and baboons among others. You’ll also have the chance to spot some colorful birds during the drive such as secretary birds, storks, cormorants, herons, egrets, pelicans, ducks, glossy ibis, the long-crested eagle, grey crowned crane among others.

Bird watching

Bird watching is another enjoyable activity in Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara is one of the greatest locations for birdwatching in Tanzania because the park is home to over 400 different bird species, including woodlands and aquatic birds. At Lake Manyara, you can go bird watching in the lake manyara, in the woodland and along the flood plains. During your bird watching tour, you’ll have the chance to spot  birds such as  Pangni Long Claw Flamingo, Red-eyed Dove , Little Grebe, Mourning Collared-Dove, Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove, African Swift , Square-tailed Nightjar,  Ring-necked Dove, Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Lesser Moorhen , Crowned Lapwing , Spotted Thick-knee , White-bellied Bustard, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Red-chested Cuckoo, Pied Cuckoo, Montane Nightjar, Scarce Swift, Red-knobbed Coot, Gray Crowned-Crane, Water Thick-knee, Pied Avocet, Three-banded Plover, Long-toed Lapwing, Spur-winged Lapwing, African Jacana, African Snipe, Pectoral Sandpiper, Three-banded Courser among others.

Boat cruises

Boat cruise in Lake Manyara National Park is also an exciting activity. Boat cruise in Lake Manyara national park is best done along the Lake Manyara. Lake Manyara is a shallow lake that fills up two-thirds of Lake Manyara National Park. Along the edges of Lake Manyara, you can see crusty white deposits of soda that sparkle like diamonds, and the salty water has a soapy appearance because of the concentrated minerals. The boat trip departs at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm. The boat cruise takes 3 hours. During a boat cruise tout, you will have the chance to spot large school of hippos, various animals’ species as they come to drink waters, different fish species and also enjoy views of the rift valley escarpment as well as the beautiful scenery in the national park made up of a forested area, open savannah plains and the woodlands.

Guided nature walks

This is a fun activity in Lake Manyara national park that gives you the opportunity to go about the park and learn about its smaller residents, while accompanied by an armed park ranger and knowledgeable park guide. You will follow various trails during the guided nature walk, such as the lake shores, along the flood plains and the park’s woodlands areas, where you will a bird’s eye view of the park and its surrounding lakes. You will also have the chance to walk through the majimoto board walkway. This route followed during game drives enables the tourists to enjoy views of Lake Manyara and also other scenic photography locations at the destination.

You also have an opportunity of getting personal and up close with many animal species including buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, warthogs, elephants, lion, klipspringers, as well as several bird species, such as Hadada Ibis, Secretary bird, Osprey, Black-winged Kite and many more.

The best time to visit Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara National Park is open year-round and offers you opportunities to observe large numbers of animals that can be seen in the park’s waterbodies, during the wet seasons that start from March to May and September to November, animals that live in water can be seen along the banks of rivers and waterholes during the dry season that runs from June to August and December to February. For a unique experience, visit during the wet season (November – June) for bird watching, waterfalls, and canoeing.

Accommodation facilities at Lake Manyara National Park

There is a variety of accommodations for you on your safari in Lake Manyara national park, these include; Mawemawe Manyara Lodge, Kirurumu Manyara Lodge, Chem Chem Lodge, Mbali Mbali Tarangire River Camp, Escarpment Luxury Lodge, Manyara Safari Lodge, Burunge Tented Lodge  , Jungle Pearl Resort, Lake Manyara Wildlife Lodge, AndBeyond Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, Lake Manyara Kilimamoja Lodge, Manyara Best View Lodge, Lake Manyara Serene Safari Lodge, Manyara’s Secret, Maramboi Tented Lodge, Africa Safari Lake Manyara, and Burudika Manyara Lodge among others.

 How to get to Lake Manyara National Park

To get to Lake Manyara National Park, you can take a nice drive from Arusha, which is about 126 kilometers to the northeast. The trip is easy because the road is in good condition. The park has two main entry points, one in the north and one in the south, and the town of Mto wa Mbu is close

Contact our trusted tour operators for more information about guide to Lake Manyara National Park and then Book with our tours and travel companies such as; Focus East Africa Tours who offer the best tour packages while on your safari in Tanzania.