Hi all - Our September safari itinerary has 1 "spare" day and night to spend at either Tarangire or Manyara before catching a flight leaving from Manyara airstrip. Any recommendations on which one to choose? Would appreciate any advice. Thanks. (Rest of itinerary is Ngorongoro, Ruaha, and Selous).

By far, Tarangire is the better location! You'll see much more wildlife there than at Lake Manyara. Even in the "off season" of February, we must have seen over 200 elephants in Tarangire.

The lake at Manyara has always been low when I was there. The flamingoes were just a pink smudge on the far horizon. You'll see wildlife, but not as much as at Tarangire, I think.

Question: Where are you flying to from the Manyara airstrip...Arusha? If so, you'd do better to just drive there from Tarangire. It would take you about as long as to drive to the Manyara airstrip. Then, you wouldn't need the flight.

Will another night in Tarangire mean you have 2 or 3 nights there? If so, then especially in Sept, I too would vote for Tarangire.

What a nice itinerary.

I just wanted to put in a vote for Manyara.You will probably see more in Tarangire but we were absolutly killed by tetse flyes here.I also feel even though the lake was almost nonexistent when we were there it is a very beautiful park.We did see alot there including Cheetah and a huge herd of Buffalo as well as lots of ele's.

Tarangire is probably better in Sept but Manyara is never a bad choice.

hi, i had a thought-if that last day/nt could be in ruaha or selous-for my self i would stay there. so if there is a flight to get where you need to go on the day you need to go.stay in the south.
lets face it-its not all the time people can visit the south. the north parks you can get there pretty much when ever.
if your already down there-stay there.

cheers, d

My vote is for Tarangire, but two days here is more than sufficient. So as tuskerdave mentions, if you can add it to the Selous or Ruaha, try.

If at Tarangire, you certainly don't need a flight from Manyara, it takes the same amount of time to drive from Tarangire to Arusha as it does to drive from Tarangire to Manyara and add a flight... no reason.

Thanks for your input. I can see both parks have advocates, so maybe it will come down to tossing a coin. I guess my itineray wasn't too clear. We start at Ngorongoro for 2 nights, then head to either Manyara or Tarangire for 1 day and 1 night. Then fly from from Manyara to Ruaha. We will be at Ruaha 4 nights, then at Selous for 4 nights, so we didn't want to add the spare night to these two parks.

Then Tarangire which has it's own mini-migration between mid-June thru October; and you don't have to fly. Besides the flight to the southern parks leaves from Arusha. You can drive from Tarangire (2-hrs) to Arusha.

Sandi, got a bit of a jolt when you said flights to southern parks leave from Arusha. Our itinerary has us leaving from Manyara airstrip, probably on a very small plane. Nevertheless, I'll double check this to be sure we aren't standing around waiting for a plane that doesn't appear.

Don't worry. Your flight probably routes Manyara-Arusha-Ruaha and your outfitter has just booked you starting from Manyara instead of Arusha.

There really is no contest between the two as a game park - Tarangire wins by miles. Manyara can be done in a morning whereas you could spend many days in Tarangire.