Plan your safari
Lion pride resting on a fallen tree in green woodland

Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara: tree-climbing lions and flamingos beneath the Rift Valley wall.

Plan your safari Highlights

Within a small space, Lake Manyara packs remarkable variety: a soda lake flushed pink with flamingos, a lush groundwater forest alive with blue monkeys and hornbills, and open floodplains where elephant graze against the 600-meter wall of the Great Rift Valley.

Above all, it is famous for lions that lounge in acacia branches, a behavior seen in only a couple of places in Africa. As a result, most guests visit as a half-day en route between Tarangire and Ngorongoro, which is exactly how we recommend it.

Manyara works beautifully as an easy early stop on a northern-circuit safari: the groundwater forest, the flamingo-pink shallows and the Rift Valley wall compress remarkable variety into a small park, and its famous tree-climbing lions remain one of Tanzania’s strangest and most photogenic sights.

Highlights of Lake Manyara National Park

Tree-climbing lions

In particular, Manyara’s prides famously rest in the branches of acacia and mahogany.

Flamingos on the soda lake

Meanwhile, in the right season the shoreline turns pink with tens of thousands of birds.

The groundwater forest

A jungle-green canopy of figs and mahogany, utterly unlike the plains.

The treetop walkway

East Africa’s longest canopy walk, strung through the forest.

Zebra grazing beside Lake Manyara with flamingos on the water, Tanzania

Zebra on the lake shore, flamingos beyond

Best time to visit Lake Manyara

Jun–Oct

Dry season: easy game viewing on the floodplains.

Nov–May

Green season: the forest at its most lush and waterbirds at their peak.

Quieter seasons, considered

However, in the green months rates ease at many of these camps, the plains empty of vehicles and the light turns dramatic. Finally, what each season gives, and what it trades, is set out in our Safari Planning Guide.

Planning & cost

Safari cost

Usually a half-day stop within a northern circuit safari.

How we travel

Of course, we design every journey privately, with private guides and vehicles arranged where specified, the finest lodges, and a specialist on call throughout. At fly-in camps, game drives may be shared unless a private vehicle is reserved.

Practical details,
in one place

Money, health, connectivity and packing work the same way on every safari we plan, so they live in one place rather than on every page.

Lake Manyara National Park FAQs

In fact, a well-timed half day covers the forest, the lake shore and the floodplains. We slot it between Tarangire and the Ngorongoro highlands so it costs you no extra travel time.

Sightings are never guaranteed, but Manyara and Uganda’s Ishasha are the two places in Africa where the behavior is routine. Even so, your guide will know where the prides have been lounging.

Numbers move with the lake’s water levels, but the wet months from November to May are generally best for big flocks.

Getting to Tanzania: flights, visas and health

Correct when we wrote it. Before you travel, we check every requirement for your exact route and tell you what to apply for and when.

AirportsKilimanjaro International (JRO) for the northern circuit, Julius Nyerere, Dar es Salaam (DAR) for the south, and Zanzibar (ZNZ) for the islands. Bush flights to the camps leave from Arusha Airport (ARK) and the park airstrips.
Getting thereNo nonstop from the US: connect once through Amsterdam (KLM), Doha (Qatar), Istanbul (Turkish) or Addis Ababa (Ethiopian). Plan on 18–24 hours door to door.
Visa: US citizensUS citizens need the multiple-entry e-visa (about $100), applied for online before travel (allow two to four weeks). Apply only at the official portal: visa.immigration.go.tz.
HealthYellow fever certificate required only if you arrive from a country where the disease is present. A layover over twelve hours in one can count. Malaria prophylaxis is advised for all safari areas. Country guidance: CDC Travelers’ Health.
PassportSix months’ validity beyond your return date, with at least two blank pages. Travel insurance including medical evacuation is required on every journey we plan. Tanzania also requires one applicable mandatory inbound insurance policy (USD 44), determined by your first point of entry; see our inbound insurance guide.
Full flight guidePlan your safari

Plan your Lake Manyara safari.

In short, Lake Manyara National Park is small, easily added, and often the gentlest opening to a northern circuit.

Tell us how you like to travel and start with a complimentary consultation.

Plan your safari

For official park rules, fees and opening hours, see Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA).