Lake Manyara National Park

Overview

Famous for its tree-climbing lions, located on the way down to Ngorongoro Crater, and the famous Serengeti National Park, Lake Manyara National Park is worth a never-miss in its own wonders. Its groundwater forests, wild plains, ancient baobab strewn cliffs, and vegetation-streaked hot springs offer incredible ecological variety all in one area, rich in wildlife and incredible numbers of bird species.

The alkaline watered Lake Manyara is paradise to a wonderful assemble of birdlife that thrives on its alkaline waters. The resident pink flamingo stoops and graze in large groups colorful specks against the grey minerals of the lake shores.

Lake Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions are one more important reason to pay a visit to this park. The only kind of their species in the world, they make the oldest mahogany trees and elegant acacias their home during the wet season in the park, and are a popular but rather rare feature of the northern park.

Furthermore, the national park is also home to the largest number of baboons than anywhere in the world — a fact that accounts for interesting game viewing of large families of the primates.

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.

Lake Manyara National Park

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