Tanzania | Lake Manyara
Dubbed by Ernest Hemingway as the 'loveliest lake in Africa', Lake Manyara lies to the west of Rift Valley, spreads over 200 km2 and covers almost two-thirds of Lake Manyara National Park. The view across the lake from the edge of the 'Escarpment' - the steep wall near to which most of the accommodation is located - is magnificent. A safari through Lake Manyara National Park will allow you to experience the essence of Tanzania.
Michael Palin spent a night on the escarpment for the television series Pole to Pole. He described the view across Lake Manyara as follows: a series of short, straight rivers with mantra-like names - Yambi, Endabash, Ndala, Chemchem, Msasa, Mchanga and Mkindu - that flow over the edge of a steep wall, through a forest of fig, mahogany and wolf's-milk trees, 2000 metres below, and disappears into the stretched out lake.' Impressive waterfalls form here in the rainy season.
Lake Manyara National Park (330 km2, 200 km2 of which is lake) is often described as a micro-cosmos of the Tanzanian safari experience. A road leads you from the park's entrance, all the way around the dense jungle, allowing you to stop here and there to look at baboons, meerkats, bush bucks and hornbills, The grass plains are home to buffalo and giraffe, as well as large herds of wildebeest (gnus) and zebra. Elephants with impressive tusks live among the acacia forests in the south, alongside mongoose, Kirk's dik-diks, leopards and lions. Klipspringers can also be seen standing above the hot thermal springs on the far south side of Lake Manyara National Park.
When you drive through the rainforest and arrive at the lake, what strikes you straight away is the great variety of water birds, such as pelicans, cormorants, storks and flamingos; the latter of which are attracted by the algae in the alkaline lake. If the water is high enough after the rainy season, you will be able to paddle down the 50-kilometre stretch of lake in a canoe. You can also abseil from the top of the steep wall or go on mountain bike tours and forest walks, which will enable you to gain a good impression of life in the villages on the edge of this national park.
