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Write a User ReviewElephants, Tree-climbing Lions & Dramatic Scenery
Lake Manyara is famous for its tree-climbing lions, and I’ve been lucky to witness this little-understood behavior here on several occasions. Another draw is the big elephant population. I've had some very close encounters with massive tuskers, which tend to be particularly relaxed here. The park’s other claim to fame is the opportunity to see flamingos. Unfortunately, the road that used to run close to the shore has been closed for several years and might not be reopened. At present you won’t be able to see the flamingos and big flocks of other water-associated
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birds, unless you head out by canoe, one of the many activities on offer.Oh, and don’t miss out on the treetop walkway at the park’s entrance. The 370m-/1,200ft-long airwalk takes you through the forest canopy at a thrilling height of 18m/60ft. This unique opportunity to get a bird’s eye perspective of the forest is more than worthwhile. The entrance area of the park gets very crowded with day visitors arriving midmorning or in the afternoon. Therefore, the best time to visit is very early in the morning.
A vision in pink
Lake Manyara is an unassuming yet attractive park that in truth deserves more time and attention - most people dash through en route to Ngorongoro Crater. Two-thirds of it is taken up by the lake itself and the rest is squeezed between the lake shores and the red cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. As such, its varied habitat attracts myriad birdlife and the lake becomes a blanket of pink when thousands of flamingoes descend upon it on their migration. It’s well-known for its huge population of baboons – they seem to be everywhere here. But it’s perhaps better known for its far smaller numbers of tree-climbing lion, a rare but beautiful sight. I saw a lioness and three young cubs perched quite precariously in an acacia tree on my last visit and would have stayed to watch them for hours were it not for the tsetse flies that can make life quite uncomfortable. One school of thought is that the lions climb the trees to avoid the flies!
Tanzania in Microcosm
With habitats ranging from lush groundwater forest and open water to acacia woodland and open grassy floodplains, Manyara offers a microcosmic introduction to the habitats and wildlife of northern Tanzania. It also provides a perfect introduction to the country’s stunning birdlife, with a good possibility of ticking 100 species in one day, including several birds of prey, massive forest hornbills, large flocks of pink flamingos and flotillas of pelicans.
Manyara is famed for its legendary tree-climbing lions,
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though these days you’re just as likely to see these mighty predators in arboreal action in the Seronera area of Serengeti. We’ve had great sighting of lions up trees on two of our most recent three visits to Manyara, in both cases in the boughs of roadside acacias close to the Maji Moto springs. Another mammalian highlight is the hundred-strong baboon troops that lounge alongside the road through the groundwater forest.When the lake is at its normal level, an excellent hippo pool can now be viewed from a stilted wooden platform reached via a road through an area of marsh that offers superb conditions for aquatic bird photography, using your car as a hide. However, the pool was submerged following the heavy rains in 2019 and it remained so when we visited three years later in 2022. The expanded lake also extended across much of the floodplain in 2022, which meant that wildlife viewing was far poorer than on any of our previous visits. Hopefully this is a temporary setback.
Elephants, flamingos & Rift Valley vistas
Manyara is small, scenic and, at first glance, almost completely dominated by the shallow expanses of Lake Manyara. Yet, despite the lake’s reach (or perhaps because of it), Manyara has an impressive diversity of habitats and one of the highest biomass densities of large mammals in the world. Hippos, elephants, zebras, giraffes and buffalo are all frequently spotted, and with luck, you may see some of the tree-climbing lions for which Manyara is famed. Among the things I like best about the greater Manyara area are the wide views down over the lake from the top of the Rift Valley escarpment.
Many Northern circuit safari itineraries relegate Manyara to a quick day visit. If your time is limited, this may be ‘enough’ in favour of additional time in the more action-packed Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater. However, if you are a repeat safari-goer, or if you are interested in birding, then plan on at least a night here.
Pretty in Pink
Manyara has also become known for its leopards and tree-climbing lions, though I had no luck with either and was told by my guide that both were very rare sightings here. I was also informed that in fact lions have been seen climbing and lounging about in trees in many of Tanzania’s parks. Easier to spot were the large numbers of baboons, elephants and hippos.
Sadly the small size of the park and its proximity to the two biggest stalwarts on the Northern
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Circuit mean that Manyara can get rather busy. But it’s still worth at least a morning’s game drive and a few landscape pictures.Lake of Elephants
However, there was no escaping the crowds. The park is small, and attracts a high concentration of day visitors passing through en route to the greater attractions of the Serengeti. Many of these visitors don’t have time to venture far into the park so cluster near the entrance, which can mean an unseemly build-up of traffic in this area. It’s a shame, because time to explore deeper into the park would, I’m sure, be rewarding.
I saw the famous elephants, of which there were plenty, plus enormous numbers of baboons, and forest species such as bushbuck and colobus
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monkeys. Like most day visitors, I missed the famous tree-climbing lions, which generally require more time and a trip deeper into the park. A stay inside the park would also allow canoeing and night drives, which are both excellent options.It’s a lovely destination, and rich in wildlife, but suffers from its position as the gateway to the ‘Northern circuit’, which means that for many visitors it will always serve as an introduction to – and subsequently poor comparison with – the Serengeti.
A Diverse Variety of Landscapes in a Small Area, Sheltered by the Magnificent Rift Valley Escarpment
Lake Manyara is easily seen from the road that climbs up the Rift Valley, where all safari vehicles stop for a gawk at the pink flamingos, but what I like about this park is its simplicity for a game drive. There’s essentially one track through the permanent oasis of lush greenery.
Despite looking for a tail dangling down through the branches, I have never seen Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions (a rare sight), and have had better luck with cats on the short plains of the other parks. But I’ve seen numerous plains game, elephant among the giant acacia and fig trees, pods of hippo in the Simba River, and pelicans, storks, geese, herons and cormorants, which share the lake with the flamingos. It’s a perfect accompaniment to a longer safari to the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti.
Lake Manyara NP is famous for its tree-climbing lions and astounding views over the lake
We drove through Lake Manyara National Park en-route to Ngorongoro and Serengeti, and it was pretty much our initiation to Tanzania’s parks. The views are spectacular (as is to be expected in this part of Tanzania) and Lake Manyara is a perfect warm-up to Ngorongoro. The lions eluded us (although there were plenty in Ngorongoro Crater) but the lake, set below the towering Rift Valley escarpment, is an unforgettable sight in itself. Hemingway called the countryside around Manyara ‘the loveliest that I had seen in Africa’. I wouldn’t want to argue with him.
Lake Manyara: Lions in Trees
This thin sliver of a park is often bypassed in the rush between Tarangire and Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, but that would be a mistake. For a start, the dramatic escarpment that forms the western wall of the Great Rift Valley makes this one of the easiest places in East Africa to get a sense of the drama of the great gash that slices through the heart of the continent. And then there’s the promise of tree-climbing lions – these lions defy nature and, unlike other parks where lions take to the trees, have done so since before tourists began arriving here. Elephants, buffalos and blue monkeys are other highlights.
And Lake Manyara has another very special reason to visit – this is one of few East African parks where night drives and walking safaris are both possible (though not at the same time). And if, like me, you’ve read and reread Peter Matthiessen’s The Tree Where Man Was Born, you’ll recognise that some of his most famous scenes come from Lake Manyara.
Night drives, bush walks, and dramatic scenery
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Tanzania. The best thing about the park is the variety of activities available. Night drives, bush walks, and canoe safaris (lake levels permitting) give the typical safari itinerary a little variety.Lions in Trees
Lake Manyara National Park is an ideal stop en route to/from Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. The park may be small in comparison to its northern counterparts, but it’s excellent for bird watching and a good area to find elephants. What’s more, the scenic park is also renowned for its potential to see its legendary tree-climbing lions. While sightings are not always common, on my last visit I was treated to the spectacle of three young lion cubs playfully fighting with each other for the best position in the crook of an acacia branch. Over the years I’ve found it’s best to visit the park in the morning as it is pleasantly quiet with most tourist groups choosing to stop via the park in the later afternoon on their return to Arusha.
Manyara: Among the Elephants (and Flamingos)
Manyara’s two best features are the appealing ‘Lost World’ feeling of the towering cliffs and wheeling flocks of birds, and the beauty of the lake. I loved seeing buffalo grazing in the emerald-green swamp grass, and the impressively large flocks of flamingos and pelicans on the lake. I also love Manyara’s abundance of elephants, which were studied intensively by famous biologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton in the 1970s. As a result, they’re well accustomed to human visitors and tolerate close approaches by people. The classic book ‘Among the Elephants’ by Douglas-Hamilton is one of my favourites, and essential reading if you want to get the most out of your visit.
Manyara is also famous for tree-climbing lions, but be warned – lions can be frustratingly hard to find here either in or out of the trees, especially if you just come in for one or two days. On my last visit, though, a night drive yielded no less than THREE leopard sightings, which more than made up for the lack of arboreal cats in the daytime.
Jewel of the Northern Circuit
Set at the foot of the Great Rift escarpment, Lake Manyara is small enough to see in a day but deserves a longer stay. The park itself is a long, narrow strip with the escarpment on one side and the lake on the other, and begins with a beautiful expanse of groundwater forest frequented by bushbuck, blue monkeys and swallowtail butterflies. Elephant are common – this is where Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton lived and wrote their African wildlife classic: ‘Among the Elephants’. But Manyara’s top attractions are its flamingo flocks and tree-climbing lions. This is altogether a terrific park for birding. But in six visits, although I have seen plenty of lions, I have never seen one reclining in the big overhanging acacias. The farther you drive the quieter the park becomes. A lot of visitors don’t even make it as far as the Endabash River, so it’s well worth pushing on to Maji Moto Kubwa Hot Springs, even though you have to come back along the same route.