Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania
Adventure safaris, flamingos, action sports and more
The Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is the only lodge to lie within the boundaries of the Lake Manyara National Park. Lying in the heart of the park, the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge offers stunning views of the towering escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, while its exclusive position allows for extensive safari game drives in the southern section of the park, which is dominated by its soda lake, often home to thousands of greater flamingos and lesser flamingos. Designed to resemble a tree house, the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge offers just ten individually-designed rooms and a central dining and bar area.
Location: Lake Manyara Tree Lodge
The Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is located within the Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania. The park lies 3 km from the small town of Mto wa Mbu, Northern Tanzania (130 kilometres west of Arusha via the Arusha-Serengeti road: approximate journey time 1.5 hours). The national park has an airstrip.
The Lake Manyara National Park
Lying in a shallow depression at the base of the western wall of the eastern arm of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara typically shimmers in a lilac and gold heat-haze, sometimes streaked pink with thousands of flamingos. Venue for numerous adventure sports, such as walking, hiking, biking and abseiling, this beautiful national park is backed by the dramatically sheer red-and-brown cliffs of the Mto wa Mbu Escarpment.
Lake Manyara National Park includes not only a substantial portion of the lake and its shores but also large areas of ground-water forest with giant fig and mahogany trees alternating with acacia woodland and open. The national park's name is derived from the Maasai word for the Euphorbia tirucalli bush, which the tribesmen plant as a living stockade to keep their cattle from straying.
Your Lake Manyara adventure lodge safari
Although it covers an area of only 318sq km, the terrain of Lake Manyara national park is so diverse that its mammal and bird lists are some of the most impressive in Tanzania. As to wildlife, the national park offers abundant sightings of; monkey, jackal, mongoose, hyena, hyrax, zebra, hippo, warthog, buffalo, Masai giraffe, duiker, waterbuck and impala.
Significant numbers of elephant are also resident in the national park whilst sightings of black rhino and leopard are not uncommon. Lake Manyara is also especially noted for its wealth of bird life, being visited by many thousands of sugar-pink lesser flamingos, significant numbers of greater flamingos and a host of other woodland, plains and water birds.
The famous tree-climbing lions of Lake Manyara
As the heat shimmers over the lake, entire prides of lion can be seen lolling in the branches of the acacia trees of the national park. The existence of tree-climbing lions is actually unusual, since Tanzania lions usually prefer to remain hidden in the thick savannah where they have a better chance of hunting their prey. Quite why the tree-climbing lions exist in this national park is unknown, but it is thought they have adopted the habit to avoid the heat and the flies and to gain a better vantage point from which to hunt.
Wildlife highlights on this Lake Manyara adventure lodge safari:
Lake Manyara national park is famous for its spectacular tree-climbing lions and also offers; monkey, jackal, mongoose, hyena, hyrax, elephant, rhino, leopard, zebra, hippo, warthog, buffalo, Masai giraffe, duiker, waterbuck and impala. Birds: Manyara is noted for its wealth of bird life, which includes many thousands of flamingos as well as pelican, yellow-billed stork and white-necked cormorant.
Accommodation: An adventure safari lodge
Lake Manyara Tree Lodge offers ten charming tree houses, which are elevated on wooden stilts and cradled in the boughs of huge mahogany trees. Wide-spaced and exceptionally private, each tree house is built of timber and thatched with traditional Makuti palm thatch. The interiors are elegant, yet understated and feature spacious seating areas, luxurious bedrooms with ensuite facilities (bath, twin basins, private WC and outside shower) and panoramic verandas. All the rooms at the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge offer overhead fans, mosquito nets, safes, telephones, hairdryers, and laundry services. The Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is closed in April.
The Lake Manyara Tree Lodge offers in-room massage services and a shop featuring Tanzania handicrafts made by the local community.
Dining and bars at this adventure safari lodge
The central dining area at the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge features an interactive kitchen with views out over the forest. The lodge also offers a traditional forest ‘boma' encampment, which is surrounded by dug-out canoes. In the evenings this is charmingly lit by candlelight. The central bar and lounge areas of the lodge feature a traditional yet modern safari look, with plenty of individualized seating areas and views out over the forest.
Safari lodge conference and event facilities
Lake Manyara Tree Lodge does not offer specific conference facilities but small events and weddings can be accommodated.
A child-friendly safari tented lodge
Lake Manyara Tree Lodge welcomes children. Travel to Tanzania is recommended for children 8 years and older. Regretfully, children 5 years and younger cannot participate in the regular game-drives. Child-minders can be booked at an additional cost. Children aged 6 to 11 years are accommodated on game-drives at the lodge manager's discretion. An extra bed can be arranged for a child 16 and younger sharing its parents 'tree house'. No more than one triple in the camp at any one time.
Lake Manyara adventure lodge safaris: what to see and do
Tanzania lodge safari experiences in Lake Manyara National Park
Typical Tanzania safari experiences at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge include: safari game drives in especially adapted 4WD safari vehicles (with professionally trained Tanzania safari guides), adventure bush breakfasts, lunches and dinners; cocktails around the lodge safari campfire and guided safari walks through the bush. Lake Manyara Tree Lodge also offers ornithological tours, cultural performances and visits to the local Maasai people of Tanzania.
Specific to Lake Manyara adventure safaris activities
• Adventure and action activities specific to Lake Manyara include:
• Boating trips around the Lake and its ecosystem
• Flamingo-viewing.
• Visits to the villages of the Mbu Cultural Tourism Programme offering village walks, bicycle tours and boating trips.
• Mountain biking around the national park and adjacent landscapes.
• Day trips to nearby Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park.
• A daily selection of morning and afternoon game drives around the Lake.
Visits to such famous Tanzania attractions as; Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, The Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area and the Ol Duvai Gorge paleolithic site.
Lake Manyara Tree Lodge • Tanzania Adventure Safari Lodges
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