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. Situated on the way to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, Lake Manyara National Park is worth a visit in its own right. Its groundwater forests, bush plains, baobab-strewn cliffs, and algae-streaked hot springs provide incredible ecological variety in a small area, rich in wildlife and impressive numbers of birds.

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

Lake Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions are another reason to visit this park. The only species of their kind in the world, they make the ancient mahogany and elegant acacias their home during the rainy season and are a well-known but 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, which offers interesting game viewing of large families of these primates.

Stretching for 50 km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-meter high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I had seen in Africa.” The compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers a virtual microcosm of the Tanzanian safari experience. From the entrance gate, the road winds through lush, jungle-like groundwater forest where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge along the roadside; blue monkeys scamper between ancient mahogany trees; dainty bushbucks tread warily through the shadows; and oversized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy.