Night Drive Safari

Explore wildlife in the bush at night in Lake Manyara

Head out after dark on a night game drive and experience the bush in a whole new way. Night game drive are about catching sight of smaller, nocturnal animals such as genets, civets, porcupines and aardvarks or the chance to catch a lion or leopard in your spotlight. You can feel the alertness and tension from the plains game as the predators prepare themselves for their nightly huts. It gives you a different perspective of the park and wildlife. Especially a night game drive in Lake Manyara National Park.

Lake Manyara ecosystem 

Lake Manyara is the ideal location for a night game drive because of its many ecosystems. It is said to have 11 different systems; the area is a melting pot for all types of animals and plants – with the lake, the rift valley cliffs, ground water forest, Ngorongoro highlands and the dry Tarangire system all close by.

Lake Manyara wildlife

Manyara National Park have good reliable water year round and animals here are in prime condition making wildlife viewing even better. The less seen animals are generally active at night and Lake Manyara National Park are full of them! Porcupines, genets and civet cats are frequent visitors to the forest. Hippos are nocturnal animals (active by night) and it is highly likely to see many of these beasts grazing on the side of the road. Lake Manyara is well known for a large number of Leopards and although it is not a common occurrence these elusive cats are spotted on a regular basis. Lion sightings are more common and where lions are mostly sleeping in day time at night they are almost always active.

Bush dinner

All our night game drives in Lake Manyara include a nice bush dinner inside the park. So when you are already in the park on a day game drive you don’t have to exit the park for dinner anymore. Relax and enjoy a bush dinner at the Endala picnic site on the lakeshores. After the bush dinner, you can experience a great night safari.

Night game drive program

Your drive starts around 20:00 from where you head into the thick ground-water forest of Lake Manyara. From the forest you head down towards the lake following the Simba River to the hippo pools. You will return back to the forest and finally be back at the park gate around 22:30. We can either leave you at the gate to be collected by your safari driver or we can take you to the Serena Manyara Lodge for collection.

This night safari will give you an entirely different perspective of the park and wildlife.