Tree Tops & Pink Shores: Lake Manyara Day Trip

Lake Manyara National Park stretches along a shallow alkaline lake at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment, roughly two hours south-west of Arusha. It is one of the smallest parks on the Northern Circuit but among the most ecologically diverse - a narrow strip of groundwater forest, acacia woodland, marsh, hot springs and open floodplain packed into 330 square kilometres. That variety, combined with its ease of access, makes it an exceptional day-trip destination.

You enter through Mto wa Mbu at the northern gate and immediately drop into a lush, spring-fed groundwater forest. Blue and vervet monkey and troops of olive baboon (Manyara has one of the largest baboon populations in Africa) work the canopy overhead; the forest floor is thick with butterflies. The road opens onto the acacia woodlands for which the park is famous - this is where the tree-climbing lion prides live, draping themselves over the horizontal branches of umbrella acacias in the afternoon heat.

Lunch is a picnic at the hippo pool, watching pods of hippo and the huge water bird populations - pelicans, storks, herons and ibis - work the shallows. In the wet season the lake is fringed with tens of thousands of lesser flamingo, painting the shoreline pink. Elephant herds move down out of the forest to the water in the afternoon, and giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and impala are seen throughout.

The escarpment towers 600 metres above the park to the west, and every game drive is set against it. You return to Arusha through Mto wa Mbu village in the early evening, with an optional cultural stop for banana beer or a woodcarvers' market on request.