Lake Manyara National Park (The Diverse Gem)
- Duration: 1 Day (Day Trip)
- Price: $400 - $700 pp
- Pickup: Zanzibar Airport / Arusha
The “Jungle” Entrance: Unlike most savannah parks, Manyara greets you with a dense groundwater forest. It feels like a tropical jungle, with streams of water and troops of baboons and blue monkeys playing on the road. It’s a completely different side of Africa.
The Tree-Climbing Lions: Lake Manyara is the original home of the rare tree-climbing lions. While usually ground-dwellers, the lions here have developed the habit of resting on the branches of acacia trees to escape the heat and tsetse flies. Keep your eyes up!
A Birdwatcher’s Dream: The lake itself is an alkali soda lake that attracts over 400 species of birds. In the right season, the shoreline turns pink with thousands of flamingos, along with pelicans, storks, and cormorants.
The Rift Valley View: The park is nestled at the base of the rusty-gold Great Rift Valley escarpment. The backdrop of the sheer cliffs rising 600 meters above the lake makes for some of the most dramatic landscape photography in Tanzania.
Perfect Combo: Because it is smaller, Manyara is often combined with the Ngorongoro Crater for a perfect 2-day “Highland & Lake” itinerary.