Lake Manyara National Park

On the way to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, Lake Manyara is well worth a stop in its own right. Set in the Great Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park is beneath the cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment, and was established in 1960. It covers an area of 325 sq km, of which 229 sq km is the lake. The remaining third is a slice of marshes, grassland and acacia woodland tucked between the lake and the escarpment whose reddish brown wall looms 600 m on the eastern horizon.