Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara is a wonderful National Park that is located about half way between Arusha and the Ngorongoro Conservation area. Lake Manyara is a wonderful introduction to a safari and is a peaceful place to get away from the busy streets of Arusha. Lake Manyara is worth a day trip or an overnight stay instead of staying in Arusha. A short game drive here is more than enough for most visitors.
The scenic beauty of this park certainly makes it worth a visit; however, the game viewing here is less impressive than Tarangire, the Serengeti, or the Ngorongoro Crater. Lake Manyara is famous for its tree-climbing lions, pink flamingos and the soda-ash lake. The lake itself takes up the majority of the park and the small strip of land running along its shores are where the majority of the wild animals gather.
The concentration of wild animals is not nearly as high as Tanzania’s more famous national parks, but it is worth visiting unless you are really pressed for time. The park's famous tree climbing lions make for incredible photography. The park has an abundance of animals, and it is well known for an impressive number of baboons. Lake Manyara has an impressive range of other game including elephants, buffalo, hippo, wildebeest, zebra, warthog, waterbuck, dik-dik, flamingos, and impala. The birding here is excellent and is teaming with raptors.
Lake Manyara is a must see when the flamingos gather in the thousands. Predicting when this will occur is impossible, but it has been common to see flocks as large as 10,000 birds. This is truly a remarkable sight!
Lake Manyara's peak season is from July to October, however, game viewing is consistently good at any time of the year. Lake Manyara also is one of the only parks that offers night safaris.
Tanzania's Best Safaris & National Parks
Why Should You Go On Safari With Chacha Tours Africa?
We listen to our clients! Some of our safari customers want to go all out, you might want to wake up early, eat lunch in the truck, and stay out until sunset. Maybe you would like a more relaxing safari. You might enjoy a morning game drive, with lunch and relaxation at the lodge before an afternoon drive. Every day is different and there is no perfect way to safari and every day is different.
Everyone is different with different tastes. You might love elephants and want to spend all day following an elephant herd. Maybe you are a photographer and you are looking for that one in a million photo. We will be glad to sit with the mother lion and her cub all day until the light is perfect. We will listen to you, after all it is your safari!
Chacha Tours Africa has the best safari guides. All of our drivers / guides love wildlife and nature. It shows in their work. They love sharing all of their incredible knowledge about the animals, big and small. The breadth of knowledge is impressive. Try your best to stump them… It is hard to do. What is that tree? What is that tiny little bird over there? Why is that elephant doing that? But the most amazing thing about our drivers is how well they can spot the camouflaged animals!
Here is one of our favorite stories about Godfried, of Chacha Tours Africa’s safari guides… On day 2 of my 4-day safari in the Serengeti my wife and I had seen so many things, but we had yet to see a cheetah. My driver knew that my wife and I really wanted to see a cheetah and he kept telling me that he would 100% find me a cheetah. About 3 hours into the game drive we had already seen some lions, elephants, a leopard, but still no cheetah.
All of a sudden, my driver stopped the car quickly and pulled out his binoculars. He said, “I have found you a cheetah!” I said, “where?” He pointed to a tree that was about 1000 meters away and said “there.” I pulled out my binoculars and looked and all I could see was a tiny little dark speck that maybe moved a little every now and then. Even with my binoculars it was impossible for me to tell what I was looking at. He said, “My friend, I promise you this is really good!” I thought he was kidding with me but as we drove closer, I finally saw my cheetah. The best part was there wasn’t one cheetah, there were 5! A mother, with four babies and a fresh kill. I still have no idea how he saw a cheetah that was so far in the distance while driving, but we spent about 2 hours photographing the cheetah and her babies. It was the best experience I have ever had while on safari and I know that not every driver would have been able to spot a cheetah that far away.
As a customer you are probably thinking to yourself... There sure are a lot of safari companies out there. What if I pick the wrong safari company? How do I know which safari company is really good and which company isn't? To be honest, there are a lot of safari companies in Tanzania and a few of them are bad, but most of them are really good. Chacha Tours Africa is great!
When you chose Chacha Tours Africa as your safari company, not only will you be in great hands, but you will be supporting a locally owned company. Philemon “Chacha” is the owner and he was born and raised in Arusha, Tanzania. He has been working in tourism since he was 16 years old and it feels like he knows everybody in Tanzania.
When you go on safari with Chacha Tours Africa all you need to worry about is getting through immigration. Chacha will make sure that your safari vacation of a lifetime is exactly that, a vacation of a lifetime! Hakuna matata is Swahili for no worries, and when you pick Chacha Tours Africa to lead you on your safari you will have no worries that you picked the best!
“I hope you have an experience that alters the shape of your life, because after Africa, nothing has been the same.”
