Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania is part of the Northern Safari Circuit, a long strip of land alongside the west side of the lake below the Rift Valley escarpment. With just one lodge inside the park, most visitors stay outside, high up on the escarpment.

 

There's just one gate in and out at Lake Manyara National Park, and the best time to visit is in the mornings, as most tours arrive in the afternoon! From the gate, you'll first drive through lush forest that looks exactly like you'd expect African jungle to look, complete with hanging creepers, blue monkeys, and olive baboons sitting by the roadside. Above the forest canopy rings with the cries of birds, while butterflies flit amongst the shadows below.

 

You emerge from the Lake Manyara National Park forest onto a floodplain dotted with pools, where kingfishers dart for fish amongst the waters. Nearby, hippos soak contentedly in muddy pools, while water birds bob around them. Beyond, vast flocks of birds wheel and turn above the waters of Lake Manyara, feeding on what appears to be grass at the edges, but turns out to be food-rich wetlands.

 

Head south to the hot springs of Maji Moto through acacia shrubland, and you'll see the striped backs of zebra, catch fleeting glimpses of shy antelopes, and admire ambling giraffes. Here, too, are the famous tree-climbing lions of Lake Manyara, who spend much of their day in trees, apparently keeping clear of the flies that swarm around them at ground level.

 

© 2009 Kirsty Young