Visit Lake Manyara National Park for Wildlife Including the Famous Tree Climbing Lions

The Park is situated both in Arusha Region and Manyara Region, Tanzania of which the two administrative regions have no jurisdiction over the parks.

The park is thus governed by the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA). The majority of the land area of the park is a narrow strip running between the Gregory Rift wall to the west and Lake Manyara which is an alkaline/soda-lake to the east.

The park consists of 330 square kilometers (130 sq mi) of arid land, forest, and a soda-lake which covers as much as 200 square kilometers (77 sq mi) of land during the wet season but is nearly nonexistent during the dry season.

Lake Manyara National Park is mostly known for the large number flamingos that inhabit the lake and its tree climbing lions. During the wet season, flamingos inhabit the edges of the lake in flocks of thousands but they are not so present during the dry season.

More than 400 bird species inhabit the park and many remain throughout the year thus the Park is a best spot for bird watching and visitors to the park can expect to see upwards of 100 different species of bird on any day.

Lake Manyara national park is one of the few national parks in Africa which are best for viewing the amazing tree climbing lions.

The phrase ‘tree climbing lions’ seems a little bizarre to those who have never seen this unusual behavior.  Even seasoned animal behaviorists agree that lions are not evolutionarily adapted to scale trees and perch atop branches.

In fact, this phenomenon is so rare that there are only two documented populations of tree climbing lions on earth have been noted which are; Lake Manyara national park and Queen Elizabeth national park in Uganda though luckily these lions can also be spotted in South Africa’s Kruger national park though not as common as in the above two Parks in East Africa.

While viewing a leopard sleeping lazily in the tree tops is a common sight on safari in the bush and with high chances you will also view the tree climbing leopards in this Park together with the tree climbing lions thus getting a colorful and memorable safari in Tanzania.

This strange behavior exhibited by lions has been the subject of interest and wonder thus attracting many tourists from various countries all over the world to visit those areas where tree climbing lions are viewed from.

Besides Leopards and lions, in the Park you will also spot many other wildlife species such as; cheetahs, elephants, blue monkeys, dik-dik, gazelles, hippopotamuses, Masai giraffes, impalas, zebras and many more wild animals inhabit this park and many can be seen throughout the year.

There is a hippo pond at one end of the park where visitors can get out of their cars and observe from a safe distance. The leopards and lions are both known to lounge in the trees while not hunting for prey especially seen during the noon hours when there is too much heat in the Park due to much sun rays thus they climb the trees for shade in most cases.

Accommodations in the Park include; Lake Manyara wildlife lodge, Chem Chem safari lodge, Lake Manyara Serena safari lodge, among others.