Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara is famous for the elephant population and the tree-climbing lions. The only kind of their species in the world, the lions make the ancient mahogany and acacias their home during the rainy season, but they are hard to spot and we did not see any. The park is also famous for the birdlife, with almost 400 different species. The national park is home to the largest concentration of baboons anywhere in the world. There is a large variety of tree species within the park and the views of the cliffs, trees and lakeshore are quite dramatic. Ernest Hemingway said the setting was the loveliest I had seen in Africa. From the entrance gate, the road winds through a lush jungle forest where hundreds of baboons are lounging and eating alongside the road. The other end of the park is where the forest ends at the lake and animals can be found in the grassy floodplain, with a backdrop of distant mountains. Buffalo, wildebeest, zebra herds and giraffes congregate on these grassy plains,