Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park is a Tanzanian national park
located both in Arusha Region and Manyara Region, Tanzania. The two
administrative regions have no jurisdiction over the parks. The park is
governed by the Tanzania National Parks Authority. The majority of the land
area of the park is a narrow strip running between the Gregory Rift wall to the
west and Lake Manyara, an alkaline or soda-lake, to the east.
The park consists of 330 km2 (130 sq mi) of arid land,
forest, and a soda-lake which covers as much as 200 km2 (77 sq mi) of land
during the wet season but is nearly nonexistent during the dry season.
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.
About Lake Manyara National Park
Size: 330 sq km (127 sq miles), of which up to 200 sq km (77
sq miles) is lake when water levels are high.
Location: In northern Tanzania. The entrance gate lies 1.5
hours (126km/80 miles) west of Arusha along a newly surfaced road, close to the
ethnically diverse market town of Mto wa Mbu.
Getting there
By road, charter or scheduled flight from Arusha, en route
to Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.
What to do
Game drives, night game drives, canoeing when the water levels
is sufficiently high.
Cultural tours, picnicking, bush lunch/dinner, mountain bike
tours, abseiling and forest walks on the escarpment outside the park.
When to go
Dry season (July-October) for large mammals;
Wet season (November-June) for bird watching, the waterfalls
and canoeing.
Accommodation
One luxury treehouse-style camp, public bandas and campsites
inside the park.
One luxury tented camp and three lodges perched on the Rift
Wall outside the park overlooking the lake.
Several guesthouses and campsites in nearby Mto wa Mbu.
For more if you want to visit Lake manyara call as for help,
+255
621 026430,
+255 683 126671,
OR email: kalungura555@gmail.com
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