Lake Manyara National Park with Kids

Lake Manyara isn’t one of the tourism powerhouses in Tanzania like Serengeti National Park or Ngorongoro Crater, but it’s a fun stopover to break up the drive between Arusha (or Moshi) to Ngorongoro. We spent one night in Lake Manyara with kids to break up the journey and we had a lot of fun with a few really cool kid-friendly activities, including an exciting night safari!

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Things to do in Lake Manyara with Kids

We didn’t have a ton of time on this pitstop during our family trip to Tanzania, but here is how we spent one day in Lake Manyara with kids.

Mto wa Mbu Cultural Walking Tour

The first thing we did upon arriving in Lake Mayara was to go on a cultural walking tour of the Mto wa Mbu village. When we travel with our kids, we try to squeeze in some cultural activities, but we try to make them as authentic as possible, as we really dislike manufactured culture for mass tourism. The Mto wa Mbu cultural tour was indeed a very authentic walk through a real life Tanzania village.

One thing that makes Mto wa Mbu special is that people from over 120 tribes live here. They are drawn here by the reliable sources of water and a chance to work. Our guide led us on a 2 hour walking tour through the village to see all aspects of daily life.

To us, the highlight of any village tour anywhere in the world are the small kids, and this small Tanzanian town was no different. It seemed like every new street we turned on had smiling, happy kids wanting to wave hello. Some of the local kids even kicked over a soccer ball, so our son could kick it back. It’s a great lesson for kids to learn that no matter where you are from, people are the same.

Highlights of our Mto wa Mbu cultural tour included stops at the local rice fields and banana crops. It was very interesting to learn what goes into making these two crops which help support the local economy.

We also visited a wood craft shop run by a tribe which was displaced here from Mozambique in the 1970’s, and have found a good home here. The beauty and complexity of their woodwork was really amazing.

We were greeted by a 90 year old woman in her outdoor cooking shack, preparing a meal for her family. Finally, we stopped at a local art collective, where we learned about the many types of art created locally.

The national park is a slender piece of land between the escarpment and Lake Manyara. Unlike Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater, which both have wide expanses of grassland making it easy to spot animals, Lake Manyara National Park is dense forest jungle, making it very difficult to spot wildlife during the day.

The best, and most interesting way to see African wildlife at Lake Manyara National Park is on a night game drive. With the help of an expert spotter using a high powered flashlight, we were able to spot the many nocturnal animals in the park which are only active at night.

We had our own private Toyota Landcruiser for the night safari, with a driver, a spotter sitting on a special seat on the front hood of the car, and a very heavily armed park ranger who sat in the very back of the safari truck, just in case.

Our night game drive in Lake Manyara National Park with kids began at 7:45 PM and the sky was pitch black.

Our family game drive started off quickly with a spotting of two silvery-cheeked hornbill birds perched on a branch above our open air safari truck. This was followed by an encounter with a nocturnal porcupine – the first we’ve seen during our family trip to Africa.

Our next two sightings were ungulates – the first being a bush buck (again, another new species for us) and a herd of impalas. It was amazing to see the impalas behavior at night – they were standing in a circle, on full alert for any predators such as the lions and leopards who live in Lake Manyara National Park.

The guides asked our kids what animals they most wanted to see on the night game drive. Our son wanted a leopard and our daughter wanted a bush baby. Leopards are extremely rare, and no surprise we didn’t see one, but to our surprise, we spotted a bush baby! They are so cute!!

Our big excitement for the night was spotting a pride of lions resting right in the middle of the road. I love how lions behave – they know they own the place and the act accordingly. They are not moving for anyone unless they want to.

The two lions closest to us were a lioness and her cub, while the one in the middle was a juvenile male. These three lions were pretty sleepy and only occasionally moved to yawn, stretch or change positions.

The two lions furthest from us were a male and a female, who wanted a little privacy as they were in the act of mating. The roar from the male lion during the act was very primal and sent shivers up my spine.

We spent a lot of time with these lions as they are an exciting animal spotting in Lake Manyara National Park. It started to feel like we were overly annoying these beautiful creatures, so we asked our guide to move on and leave the lions alone.

Our next exciting nocturnal animal encounter was seeing two spotted hyenas on the road. They like to hang out near the lions and enjoy whatever leftovers they have. The two hyenas darted into the safety of the forest, but emerged shortly on the other side, so we got an excellent view of these exciting African animals.

We came across the mating lions again, and were given an up-close view of the act. Thankfully our kids didn’t ask any uncomfortable questions!

Our final stop of the night was for some refreshments – they served coffee and hot chocolate at a table in a clearing. It was a great chance to look up at the incredible night sky to see the infinite stars and the Milky Way. It’s such a beautiful sight and a rare opportunity to see it so clearly.

On our way out of Lake Manyara National Park we saw a mama lion and her small cub in the grass just off the road. The cub was so cute!

One of the main reasons we chose to stay at the Escarpment Luxury Lodge Manyara for our layover between Ngorongoro and Moshi was the fact it had a swimming pool. Sadly, it was being repaired during our stay, which was a big disappointment. It looked really nice, with an excellent view over the escarpment, so I expect your family will really enjoy it during your stay.

We stayed at the Escarpment Luxury Lodge Manyara with a full board meal plan, and the food here was among the best quality of our entire trip. The dinner menu was fine dining at its best.

Celine and I split our entrees. She had the African curry dish on rice, while I had beef chateaubriand with potatoes. Both dishes were amazing. The kids each ordered pasta – our son a simple spaghetti, while our daughter loved her spinach pesto pasta. For dessert, we enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake creation.