Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara is small by Tanzanian standards and all the better for it. The park runs in a narrow band between the wall of the Great Rift Valley and the alkaline lake that gives it its name, packing an astonishing range of habitats into a morning or afternoon’s drive.

You enter through groundwater forest — cool, green and loud with blue monkeys and silvery-cheeked hornbills — before the landscape opens onto floodplain, acacia woodland and the soda shallows where flamingos gather in their thousands when conditions are right.

Manyara’s lions have a famous habit of lounging in trees, a behaviour seen in only a handful of places in Africa. Elephants are relaxed and often close; hippos crowd the northern pools; and the birdlife — over 400 species — is some of the best in the northern circuit.

We use Manyara the way it works best: as a beautiful, unhurried first or last game-viewing day, slotted between Arusha and the Ngorongoro highlands. A treetop walkway and canoe safaris (water levels permitting) add gentle adventure for families.