Lake Manyara

NOTE: This post will be updated with pictures soon!

For our last day in Tanzania we have decided to go on a one-day safari to Lake Manyara, a National Park on the Western edge of the Great Rift Valley, about 130 km West of Arusha.

Our guide, Isidore, picks us up from the lodge at 7:30 am. Our mode of transportation is a Landcruiser equipped to go through just about anything. The roof can be raised to provide a good view of the surroundings.

We first drive to Arusha, to a beautiful view of Mt. Meru. The morning sun casts a beautiful light on the banana plantations on the Eastern side of town.

Traffic picks up as we enter Arusha. We pass the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the new East Africa Union, both of which are based in Arusha and contributing to the rapid development of the city. After a brief stop to pick up our lunches, we exit the city on the substantially less pretty West side. The shanty towns soon give way to beautiful coffee plantations with the coffee growing under huge and stately ficus trees, lush vegetation, and number of beautiful mansions, missions, and schools.

West of Arusha, the effect of Mt. Meru diminishes and we enter dry plains inhabited by the Masai. We see many herds of long horned cows with Masai herdsmen dressed in traditional clothes. Occasionally the landscape is punctuated by small clusters of round huts. Isidore explains how the Masai have to protect the herds at night by fencing them in and watching for hyenas and lions.

As we descend from the arid high plains to the Lake Manyara region, more trees appear again. We see many magnificent baobab trees, towering high above the rest of the vegetation. With their huge trunk, thin branches, and tiny leaves they look like an oddity.

We encounter a herd of Masai giraffes along the road. A couple of zebras accompany the giraffes. We stop and watch the giraffes cross the road in front of us. They barely fit underneath the power line running along the road. It's an amazing sight.

A little further we pass a small settlement. Isidore explains that it is inhabited by a wealthy Masai cattle owner together with his 46 wives and 260-some children. He is currently building his own primary school to educate his children.

The sharp cliffs that form the Western edge of Great Rift Valley are now in front of us. This huge chasm in the Earth crust extends some 6000 km from Jordan to Malawi just South of here. It is caused by the separation of the Arabian peninsula from mainland Africa. Kilimanjaro is on the Eastern side of the Rift Valley.

At the foot of the cliffs and the Northern tip of Lake Manyara, we reach Mto Wa Mbu (Mosquito Village). The village is noteworthy for its Masai artisans and the sweet red bananas that are grown there. We buy a bunch. They are delicious.

Just beyond Mto Wa Mbu we entered Lake Manyara National Park. It's difficult to describe the experience of a safari. In some sense it is an inside-out zoo. Instead of animals being caged in, you are caged in a car. It's amazing to see all these animals just roam in the wild, mostly oblivious to their human visitors. We saw, among others, baboons, bushbuck, impalas, black-faced vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, monitor lizards, eagles, warthogs, wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, hippopotamus, elephants, and the very rare Lake Manyara tree-climbing lion (a mother and her two cubs). Often these animals were just a few feet away from the car.

We had lunch on an overlook from where we could see a sea of pink flamingos in the alkaline water of Lake Manyara. A few colorful birds came to pick up any crumbs we left behind.

We left when the tsetse flies became a nuisance. These bloodsucking flies bite like horseflies and are dangerous because they can transmit sleeping sickness.

We saw many more animals on the way out the park. After a brief stop at Mto Wa Mbu to look at some of the Masai art, we headed back to Arusha.

It was a perfect way to end a beautiful trip.

Location:Arusha - Himo Rd,,Tanzania