Located at the edge of the western escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, it is a small park in northern Tanzania essentially consisting of a strip of land about 50 km long and an area of 330 km², including the lake of the same name.
The area, despite its small size, exhibits an exceptional heterogeneity of environments thanks to which life thrives in all its shapes and sizes.
Lake Manyara Park, in fact, is a true "microcosm" where all species of wildlife in the entire region are present. Lush groundwater and rainwater forests, grassy plains, swamps and marshes, algae-rich hot springs and the alkaline lake generate as many as five different and interconnected ecosystems.
The jungle-like forests that were chosen as sets for the first Tarzan films are home to several primate families and the largest concentration of baboons in the world. The flat green expanses concentrate large herds of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, antelope and giraffe with a distinctive dark coloration that makes them look almost black when viewed from a distance. The acacia forests are a favorite place for the famous tree lions and elephants towering with their imposing tusks. The lake areas, besides being the habitat of numerous hippos, are a haven for an extraordinary birdlife. An incredible variety of birds such as pelicans, cormorants, storks and herons thrive in the brackish waters of the lake, and pink flamingos congregate by the thousands to feed on small crustaceans and mollusks.
Also spectacular in terms of landscape and with more than 670 species of flowering plants, Lake Manyara Park is a small but precious "jewel" of Tanzania.
Praised by Ernest Hemingway as "the most beautiful lake in all of Africa," it is definitely worth a visit.
