Top Destinations | Tanzania

Lake Manyara National Park


Located on the edge of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park offers varied ecosystems and breath-taking views. Highlights include thousands of flamingos, as well as other large waterbirds such as pelicans, cormorants and storks.

Destination Highlights


From soaring groundwater forests and a tranquil lake, to the mountain escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park boasts an incredible wealth of habitats and diverse African wildlife. Guests are offered an exciting, interpretive safari experience in game-rich surrounds which include large herds of elephant and buffalo.

lake manyara national park

Lake Manyara National Park Background Information

Located beneath the cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment, on the edge of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park offers varied ecosystems, incredible bird life, and breathtaking views. Known for its elephants and tree-climbing lions, Lake Manyara is also excellent for flamingos and other fascinating birds in and around the soda lake. A Lake Manyara safari is a unique and fascinating experience as the Park offers vast ecological variety in a small area, featuring a ground-water forest, acacia tortilis woodland and hot springs called Maji Moto. The dry winter season is the perfect time to visit if what you are after is big game viewing, while the wet summer season brings the variety of birds, as well as water-based activities, which add something special to the safari.

What to see and do


Lake Manyara offers incredible birdlife and breathtaking views

The alkaline soda of Lake Manyara is home to an incredible array of bird life that thrives on its brackish waters. Pink flamingo stoop and graze by the thousands colourful specks against the grey minerals of the lake shore. Yellow-billed storks swoop and corkscrew on thermal winds rising up from the escarpment, and herons flap their wings against the sun-drenched sky. Even reluctant bird-watchers will find something to watch and marvel at within the national park.

Lake Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions are another reason to pay a visit to this park. The only kind of their species in the world, they make the ancient mahogany and elegant acacias their home during the rainy season, and are a well-known but rather rare feature of the northern park. In addition to the lions, the national park is also home to the largest concentration of baboons anywhere in the world — a fact that accounts for interesting game viewing of large families of the primates.

Where to find Lake Manyara National Park