Lake Manyara National Park

Great scenaries around the lake. Cats, giraffes and elephants easily spotted while they go to the lake to drink at evening or inside the vegetation on the way to the lake. Rich also of hippos, flamingos and many other species of birds. Sunset is great moment to go, lovely colours on the horizon. On the way to the park, one may think to make a stop in the Mtowambu village: Very interesting the guided tour aroiund the village, organised by local people and with provents going to local population. One day is in my view enough.

It was our first stop so memorable for that. The elephants and flamingos are standouts here.

go and have a half-day excursion (hunting, "smoking") to the Hadzabe people!!

Lake Manyara was quieter than the other parks we went to in Tanzania. The bush vibe was more evident as a result. I really liked the terrain, which was far less open than the other reserves and led to a better chance of coming across animals unexpectedly, as we did with a group of elephants. It also has a great hippo pool.

Wildlife viewing wasn't quite as good as elsewhere, but in part that's down to luck. Had we seen a large cat or two it would probably have been my favourite of the parks.

I enjoyed meeting with the Maasai people and talking to them in Swahili about their customs. They were so friendly that they took me to one of their very traditional programs.

Few animals, hard to see the flamongoes

Lake Manyara is an interesting location that is very different from what one expects in East Africa. The lake provides year-round water, which makes Lake Manyara green and lush, and this location is one of the best for monkeys and baboons. We found, however, that the game drive here was a bit lacking compared to the other three locations we visited. The lake is full of flamingos, but there are no roads passing nearby (at least there were not when we did our game drive), so all we saw was a pink haze in the distance. We also saw small numbers of elephants, lions, giraffes... but after being spoiled by the amount of wildlife in the other parks, we were a wee bit disappointed. It is interesting to see this location, due to its dissimilarity from the other parks, but if you want to save money by cutting a day from the safari, this is the one to skip.

Very dry and dusty, also was very hot and uncomfortable. Would recommend going at a different time of year, we went in February.

The flamingos and tree climbing lions!

This was our first park. It seemed a little smaller than the others we visited but, it was much more lush. We observed a variety of baboon and monkeys here that we did not see elsewhere. Convenient to lodging and was not crowded at all. Great introduction. We stayed at Kirimuru Tents which was awesome!