A narrow strip of forest, lake and floodplain under the Rift Valley escarpment, famous for lions that sleep in the acacia branches. It is small enough to see in half a day and sits directly on the road between Arusha and the Ngorongoro Crater, so it costs an itinerary almost nothing.
Every one of these is something we run here, not a stock list.
We do not have a scheduled itinerary for Lake Manyara National Park on the site right now, which does not mean we cannot take you. We build private trips to order across Tanzania — tell us your dates and we will put a route and a price together.
Plan a trip to Lake Manyara National ParkThe spectacular Lake Manyara National Park is comprised of forest, woodland, grasslands, and swamps. Two-thirds of the park is covered by water and Lake Manyara is host to thousands of flamingoes, at certain times of year, as well as other diverse bird life.
The highlight of Lake Manyara Park is the large population of elephants, tree-climbing lions, and hippos, which can be observed at a much closer range than in other parks. This park is also home to the largest concentration of baboons in the world.
Wildlife drives, canoeing (when water levels are high enough), mountain bike tours and bird watching are the most popular things to do in Lake Manyara National Park.
Most safaris here combine two or three of these.
Fourteen thousand square kilometres of plains, and the stage for the whole wildebeest migration — which is not an event but a year-round circuit the herds never stop walking. Where they are depends on the month, so the Serengeti rewards planning more than any other park in East Africa.
A collapsed volcano twenty kilometres across with twenty-five thousand animals living on the floor of it, walled in by a six-hundred-metre rim. It is the one place in East Africa where seeing all of the Big Five in a single morning is an ordinary outcome rather than a lucky one.
Tarangire has the baobabs and the elephants. In the dry season the river is the only water for miles and the herds concentrate on it — three and four hundred elephant in a day is not unusual, which beats anything the Serengeti offers. It is two hours from Arusha and usually the first stop on a northern circuit.
Where an East African safari ends. Zanzibar is an hour's flight from Arusha: white sand, warm water, and Stone Town, a thousand-year-old trading port of carved doors and narrow lanes that is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right. Three nights here changes what the whole trip felt like.
Tell us roughly when you can travel and how long you have. We will tell you honestly whether Lake Manyara National Park is the right call for those dates — and what it costs.
