Times in Tanzania: Lake Manyara National Park

Grey-crowned Cranes with the western escarpment of the Rift Valley providing a backdrop.

We had only been to Lake Manyara once before, and it was probably for less than two hours as part of a frantic Big Birding Day last year. I have been eying up a trip to this park for quite some time but it's just a bit too far to reach for a weekend trip. However, a long weekend was not coming soon enough and since we are leaving for a trip to the US next week, I thought it would be a good time to go all out and try to make a weekend trip of it.

Lake Manyara is about 3 1/2 hours from Moshi so we left Friday at 5pm and made it to a town just outside the park at 8:30pm. We had done this exact drive one time before on a trip to Lake Natron but unfortunately this time we did not see any wildlife on the highway (last time we saw zebras and a zorrilla). We did get stopped by a traffic police and he requested we give his co-worker a ride about a half hour away, which is not unusual among police here. I mean, come on, who is going to refuse a police officer a ride? Unlike America, where the presence of a police officer in my car would make me nervous, here it basically gives you the green light and guarantees you won't be solicited for a brib (which is also very common).

We reached the town of Mto wa Mbu and located the guest house we had previously stayed in. Cheap, clean, serviceable, with working mosquito net? Awesome. Forgetting the ear plugs with loud neighbors, too cold with thin blanket, and a very uncomfortable mattress? Not so awesome. But we survived and headed out early the next morning for a day at the park.

The biggest upside of staying in Mto wa Mbu is that it is less than five minutes to the park gate. When we arrived we were greeted by a young guy that we later learned was a student doing a field placement. He said that not a lot of people came by themselves (not on a guided safari), later evidenced by the 15 safari vehicles at the picnic spot. We manged to register and be one our way in less than 10 minutes, which is much less time than the more popular parks.

We headed to a part of the park called the Hippo Pool and found it to be quite flooded. Beautiful grassland with zebra, wildabeast and buffalo grazing was being encroached by a sprawling swamp. We realized that the lookout platform we wanted to reach was under water but didn't know if we should risk reaching it.

Luckily we waited long enough and we saw a much more experienced safari driver start to drive through what I felt was a river or swamp. All I needed was someone to blaze the trail so I followed closely behind though I was somewhat alarmed at times when water reached up to the top of our wheel but I have to admit, I was damn excited and happy to be fording a river.

Driving on the road was a good bit of fun but I could probably afford to be relaxed with other safari vehicles nearby. If I got stuck, it wasn't likely to turn into a massive ordeal. Still, there were moments where I thought of the Obi Wan Kenobi quote, "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?". I had always though the snorkels on safari vehicles were outlandish but I was now reconsidering my stance.

When we reached the platform we enjoyed some stunning views. The east side of the park is the impressive alkaline lake with the west side comprising of the western escarpment of the Rift Valley. The rains had created a wetlands that drew a huge amount of fresh water birds. We enjoyed watching the wildlife, as well as watching the safari jeeps roll through the water.

We spent the rest of the day driving south and taking most of the loops that cut by the lake. The rest of the shore isn't as flooded so there aren't as many birds but there are still flamingos and storks seen about. Lake Manyara is also noted for it's numerous varied habitats and it was pretty cool to wind between forests, acacia scrub, bushland, and savanna.

There were some great wildlife spottings including a few groups of elephant, an animated mongoose family, a jackal, and numerous close views of giraffes and zebra. Since the park isn't as open as Ngorongoro or Serengeti, we felt that the wildlife viewings were more intimate and fulfilling. The big parks really spoil you so it's nice to be somewhere that you don't take a chance encounter for granted. We stopped along the road for some birds and thick grass surrounded us. We had the car off and suddenly we heard the unmistakable sound of an elephant. It sounded like it was right next to us! I got out of the car and climbed on the roof and sure enough there was a family of elephants grazing about 5m away!

We made it out of the park at 530pm (the park closes at 7pm) which was a good time since the western escarpment dims the area earlier than sunset. We had an amazing day and even though it was a lot of driving this weekend, it was well worth it and I'm sure we'll be there again soon!