Lake Manyara National Park sits beneath the wall of the Great Rift Valley escarpment and punches well above its size. In a single day you'll drive through dense groundwater forest full of blue monkeys and baboon troops, scan the shoreline of the alkaline lake for flamingos (numbers shift with the water level), and search the acacia woodland for the park's tree-climbing lions, which are trickier to spot than the postcards suggest. It's one of the more varied day trips in northern Tanzania, and you'll be back at your hotel by early evening.
Day HighlightsYour guide picks you up from your Arusha or Karatu hotel and drives roughly two hours west, along the base of the Rift Valley escarpment, to the Mto wa Mbu park gate.
Enter the park through dense, shaded groundwater forest fed by underground springs off Mount Meru, a stretch that blue monkeys, baboon troops and forest-dwelling elephants tend to favour.
Continue onto the open floodplain along the lake shore, scanning for flamingo flocks and checking the acacia woodland for Manyara's tree-climbing lions, with the Rift Valley wall rising behind you.
Stop for a picnic lunch at a viewpoint over the lake, then drive back to your hotel, arriving in the late afternoon.
Lake Manyara works well as a year-round destination. The dry season, June to October, concentrates wildlife along the lakeshore and generally makes for easier game viewing. The wetter months bring a greener forest and strong birdlife, with large flamingo numbers when lake levels are high enough.
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