Stretching for 50 kilometers along the base of the rusty–gold 600 meters high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I had seen in Africa”. Lake Manyara National Park covers an area of 330 square kilometers which is equivalent to 127 square miles, of which up to 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) is covered by Lake Manyara when water levels are high.
Lake Manyara National Park is located in northern Tanzania. The entrance gate lies 1.5 hours (126 kilometers/ 80 miles) west of Arusha along a newly surfaced road, close to the ethnically diverse market town of Mto wa Mbu. You can reach Lake Manyara National Park by road, by charter, or by scheduled flight from Arusha Airport en–route to Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. Lake Manyara National Park can be visited during the dry season which is July–October for large animals. The wet season is (November–June) for bird watching, the waterfalls, and canoeing special activity.