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Tanzania National Parks and Game Reserves - Lake Manyara National Park
Tanzania info >
Tanzania Parks and Reserves > Lake Manyara
National Park Lake Manyara National Park,
which encompasses an area of 330 sq.km, of which 200 sq.km is lake,"extolled
by Ernest Hemingway as "the loveliest I had seen in Africa""
was proclaimed a game reserve in 1957 and registered three years later
as a National Park. The park is situated between the 600 m high escarpment
of the Great Rift Valley and Lake Manyara and is 130 km from Arusha.
Thus, it can be visited on a day excursion from this centre. At the Southern
end of the park are hot Sulphur Springs known as Majimoto. Further along
the forest the area opens up into woodlands, grassland, swamps and beyond,
the soda lake itself. Lake Manyara is also renown for its tree-climbing lions which spend most of the day spread out along the branches of acacia trees six to seven metres above the ground. The park contains the most pachyderms per km sq. in Tanzania. As visitors enter the gate, they pass into the lush forest, home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys. Buffalo and hippo lurch in the adjacent Hippo Pool. The vegetation eventually merges into flat topped acacia woodland where, in the heat of the day entire prides of lion can be seen stretched on the branches of these trees - a habit prevalent to Manyara lions. Along with these amazing tree-climbing lions there are the usual browsers
and grazers as well as the curios-looking banded mongoose. Two thirds
of the park is dominated by the slightly alkaline lake which is home to
a huge variety of waterbirds.
Mto wa Mbu ( meaning Mosquito Creek) is a small busy market town selling
fruit and vegetables produced by the fruitful adjacent farms. The little
settlement has become a temporary stop over for tourists and campers.
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