Stretching
for 50km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre
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”.
The
compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers
a virtual microcosm of the Tanzanian safari
experience.
From the
entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of
lush jungle-like groundwater forest where
hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly
along the roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly
between the ancient mahogany trees, dainty bushbuck
tread warily through the shadows, and outsized
forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high
canopy.
Contrasting with the intimacy of the forest is the
grassy floodplain and its expansive views eastward,
across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue
volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Maasai
Steppes. Large buffalo, wildebeest and zebra herds
congregate on these grassy plains, as do giraffes –
some so dark in coloration that they appear to be
black from a distance.
Inland of
the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland is
the favoured haunt of Manyara’s legendary
tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked
elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between
the acacias, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik
forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are
often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of
searing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent
to the lakeshore in the far south of the park.
Manyara
provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania’s
birdlife. More than 400 species have been recorded,
and even a first-time visitor to Africa might
reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one
day. Highlights include thousands of pink-hued
flamingos on their perpetual migration, as well as
other large waterbirds such as pelicans, cormorants
and storks.
