Reviews of Lake Manyara (From 13 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Gemma Pitcher –

AU

Visited: August

Gemma authored several Lonely Planet guidebooks, including the guides to Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa.

2 people found this review helpful.

Manyara: Among the Elephants (and Flamingos)

Overall rating

3/5

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Lake Manyara’s geography is very different from Tanzania’s other parks – it’s long and thin, sandwiched between the lake itself and the high cliffs of the Rift Valley. In my opinion, it’s a bit underrated, and often overlooked in favour of the more glamorous Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti.

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.

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Expert

Tim Bewer –

US

Visited: October

Tim is a travel writer who has covered 10 African countries for Lonely Planet's Africa, East Africa and West Africa guidebooks.

3 people found this review helpful.

Night drives, bush walks, and dramatic scenery

Overall rating

3/5

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The namesake lake covers a third of the park and during the rainy season it hosts millions of flamingos. During the dry season the lake withers down to nearly nothing and I found the shimmering salt flats left behind to be eerily beautiful. Even more spectacular is the Rift Valley escarpment which soars along the park’s western border providing stunning views from above and a dramatic backdrop from down below. As for the wildlife, Lake Manyara is second tier compared to other parks in the area, but it’s still good enough to deserve a day on any Northern Circuit safari, and your visit will be especially enjoyable if you take enough time to get beyond the busy northern end of the park. The stars are the tree-climbing lions. The leopards are equally hard to spot. Elephants, buffalos, hippos, zebras, and giraffes, however, are abundant, and the diversity of habitats (there are 11 different ecosystems within its 648 square kilometer borders) makes it one of the best bird-watching parks in 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.

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Expert

Mike Unwin –

UK

Visited: December

Mike is an award-winning wildlife writer, former editor of Travel Zambia magazine and author of the Bradt Guide to Southern African Wildlife.

4 people found this review helpful.

Lake of Elephants

Overall rating

3/5

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This park had occupied a romantic corner of my imagination ever since childhood, when I read about Iain Douglas-Hamilton’s pioneering work with elephants during the 1960s. When I finally got there for myself I found it every bit as beautiful as I’d envisaged, with lush forest carpeting the rugged walls of the Rift Valley escarpment, and the shimmering waters of the lake crammed with waterbirds.

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 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.

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Expert

Christopher Clark –

UK

Visited: March

Christopher is a British travel writer and has contributed to various Fodor's guidebooks and a range of travel magazines.

4 people found this review helpful.

Pretty in Pink

Overall rating

3/5

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Lake Manyara is a small and very picturesque park that is largely overshadowed by the neighbouring Ngorongoro Conservation Area. On safari in Tanzania in the early 1930s, Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway said that Lake Manyara , which takes up most of the national park, was the “loveliest” in Africa. Many might still agree today. Hugged by the green and densely-forested Manyara Escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, the mirror-like surface of the shallow lake is covered in a thick blanket of pink flamingoes.

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 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.

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Expert

Mary Fitzpatrick –

US

Visited: Multiple times

Mary is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many Lonely Planet guidebooks, including South Africa, Tanzania, East Africa and Africa.

6 people found this review helpful.

Elephants, flamingos & Rift Valley vistas

Overall rating

3/5

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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.

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Expert

Sue Watt –

UK

Visited: Multiple times

Sue is an award-winning writer who specializes in African travel and conservation. She writes for national newspapers, magazines, Rough Guides and Lonely Planet.

6 people found this review helpful.

A vision in pink

Overall rating

3/5

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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!

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