Lake Manyara

stretching for 50km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara National Park 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. The entrance to the park is a lush forest with many ancient mahogany trees and many monkeys. This then opens up to a large grassy floodplain and the lake itself with a stunning backdrop of jagged blue volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Maasai Steppes. 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.

Animals: Wildebeast, the legendary tree climbing Lions, Elephant, Buffalo, Warthog, Flamingo, Waterfowl, Waterbucks, Giraffe, Hippo, Impala, Zebra, Dik-dik, Leopard, Hyena and over 400 bird species have been recorded.

Of interest: Game drives, night game drives, canoeing when the water levels is sufficiently high. Cultural tours, picnics, bush lunch/dinner, mountain bike tours, abseiling and forest walks on the escarpment outside the park.