Lake-Manyara-Nationalpark

From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest where hundred-strong troops of baboons laze comfortably along the roadside; the blue monkeys sprint actively between the ancient mahogany and baobab trees; dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and the outsized forest hornbills in the high canopy.

In distinction with the intimacy of the forest, is the grassy floodplain and its broad views eastward, across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Maasai Steppes. Large herds of buffalo, wildebeest, and zebra grazing on these grassy plains, and so do the giraffes – come in dark colors that they appear to be black from a distance.

Inland of the floodplain, a straitened belt of acacia woodland is the gratified haunt of Manyara’s legendary tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Groups of stripped mongoose dart between the acacias, whereas the small Kirk’s dik-dik searching for green Pasteurs in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are often seen portrayed on the rocks above a field of scathing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore in the far south of the park.