Thank you for an amazing safari. Our guide Patrick was the best. His extensive knowledge of flora and fauna was amazing. He has a great sense of humor; he is warm, patient and professional. Patrick not ...
Constantine and Luis Regalado Physician Wellington, FL
Lake Manyara National Park's popularity with safari travelers belies its small size. At just 330 square kilometers (127 sq mi), 200 sq km (77 sq mi) of which is taken up by the lake itself, the park is the smallest of the Northern Circuit reserves. Oh, but what an eventful 333 square kilometers Lake Manyara is! The park has possibly the greatest biomass density, measured as weight per area, of mammals of any place in the world. With all that mammalian poundage standing in place, visitors are sure to spot several of the Big Five in a single morning's game drive.
The main gate lies in a dense forest in the north corner of the park, fed by groundwater that seeps out of porous volcanic rock. The escarpment frames the lake to the north and, dramatically, to the west. The lake is fed by nearby springs and seasonal streams, all part of a closed drainage system. In the wet season, the lake occupies as much as two-thirds of the park's territory. In the dry season the lake nearly disappears altogether. Aside from the park's concentration of mammals, the water fowl attracted to Lake Manyara's briny waters are the main attraction. As many as a million lesser flamingos congregate on the lake's shores and in its shallows, dining on brine shrimp and algae. They are joined by thousands of greater flamingos and white pelicans and yellow-billed storks and white-necked cormorants. Dozens of species of birds of prey reside in the park, too. In all, more than 400 species of bird have been recorded at Lake Manyara.
Hot springs burble on the southern shores of the lake, fed by water seeping up from more volcanic rock. The lake is one of many such alkaline lakes that dot the floor of the Great Rift Valley, which dominates the geography of East Africa. The valley stretches from Syria in the Middle East south through Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Malawi, and finally ends in Mozambique 5,000 km (3,100 mi) to the south. The rift was formed by the separation of tectonic plates 35 million years ago. The valley varies in width from 30 to 100 km (18 to 62 mi) and in depth from a few hundred meters to a few thousand.
The geologic forces that created the Rift Valley are also responsible for the region’s volcanoes, nearby Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru and among them, as well as the craters and calderas, such as Ngorongoro, that dot the landscape. The process is ongoing, and geologists estimate that in several million years Africa will break off from Asia and the Middle East, forming its own landmass.
Wildlife
So what species make up all that Lake Manyara poundage? Wildebeest, giraffe, buffalo, elephant (those last two are responsible for much of the mass), impala, zebra, bushbuck. Baboons live in the groundwater forest. Hippopotamuses wade in the lake. The lions of Lake Manyara famously rest up in the limbs of acacia trees, perhaps as a means of keeping from getting caught under foot and hoof. Sightings of limb-lounging lions are rare, however, and visitors who manage to spot a lion up in the leaves are lucky indeed.
