Lake Manyara National Park isn’t popular as its neinghbours in the Northern safari circuit however has exceptional wildlife numbers for visitors to spot during Tanzania Safaris. With its Rift Valley Soda Lake, deep forests, and jagged mountain slopes, Lake Manyara National Park offers a great wilderness experience. Lake Manyara is famous for its peculiar tree-climbing lions and the large elephant herds.
Safaris to Lake Manyara will let you dwell in a place where, acacia woodlands, grassy plains, and marshes surround the lake – with beautiful sceneries all over. While here, there are opportunities to spot elephants with long tusks and lions that can climb trees. Giraffe parade in the grasslands, as buffalo, zebra, and wildebeest herds graze in the vast savannahs.
It takes an hour and a half to drive from Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park, which is 126 kilometers (78 mi) away. The Manyara Region’s capital, Babati, is can also be accessed from the park. There is 35,399 hectares Marang Forest Reserve in the southern part of the park.
Highlights
Lake Manyara National Park covers a total area of 325 km2 inclusive of 230 km2 of the Biosphere reserve surface of Lake Manyara with the areas within and outside the National Park along the Maranga Forest Reserve. These areas are included as the Lake Manyara important bird area. The majority of the National Park has a land area that is narrow strip running between the Gregory Rift wall to the west and Lake Manyara in the East.
Lake Manyara National Park has scenic landscapes and vegetation like the Large Rift Valley, the Soda Lake, wide grasslands, dense woodlands, and wonderful gorgeous slopes. Lake Manyara National Park offers a unique wilderness experience. For the most part, it’s an excellent site for wildlife because of the marshes, large grasslands, and accessible lake.
Wildlife in Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park is a great place to view the migratory mammals that are concentrated primarily in Tarangire National Park, but also move through Lake Manyara National Park. Some of these migratory mammals include wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle and Grant’s gazelle.
Some herds of wildebeest and other plains game also migrate from the Mto wa Mbu Game Reserve and enter the park from the north for short periods. The other grazers here include zebra, bushbuck, waterbuck, Grant’s gazelle, impala, Thomson’s gazelle, Cape buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, baboon, warthog, and elephant.
Lake Manyara National Park also has some share of top predators and the commonly spotted include lions, leopards, African wild cats, spotted hyenas, black-backed jackals, bat-eared fox, servals, honey badger, African civet, genet (Genetta) species and several mongoose species. Cheetah and African golden cat are sighted rarely spotted.
Birdlife in Lake Manyara National Park
The shores of Lake Manyara National Park are a great site to spot over 370 species of birds. Lake Manyara inhabits over 1.9 million of pink flamingos, with other birdlife also prolific. The lake also harbors water birds in abundance with different species such as the pelicans, storks, stilts, egrets and herons that are all seen close to the source however other species such as guinea fowls, crowned eagles and hornbills are spotted in the forested areas. This makes the Park a great destination for birding activities.
Vegetation in Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park is arguably one of the best natural destinations, particularly for travelers with a passion for plants. The vegetation in Lake Manyara is diverse, including more than 670 ferns and flowering species. The oldest fig trees, forest toad tree, acacia, and Phoenix palm with a distinctive vision are what Lake Manyara National Park is most well-known for, but the park also has extensive grassy savannahs with stunning vistas. The rivers that originate from the escarpments that make up Lake Manyara National Park are supported by thick, evergreen ground water forests by perennial springs that are located below the Rift Valley wall.
How do i get there ?
By Road
By Flight