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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 water birds such as
pelicans, cormorants and storks. |
