Lake Manyara National Park is the one park on the usual safari Northern Circuit that gets skipped if time is short. It is accessed from the main road but it means an extra night or two and it has no large mammal that cannot be seen somewhere else on the circuit. As such we do not expect that many safari trucks here. The major attraction for us is the birding, it is one of the few areas where you can bird on your own near a lake and in a forest making it a great place to see birds you wouldn’t see otherwise.
We know the drill now from Tarangire, in fact we provide them the registration for Tarangire to copy the info which makes it go faster. Again the amount is quite large but there is no accomodation fee in the park now which is why it is the lowest we pay on the tour. There is even a small shop here from where we buy quite a few souvenirs as the prices are cheap enough.
From the entrance you enter directly into the old growth forest. It is quite beautiful and there are quite a few small creeks but little in the way of bird life it seems.
That is until we look more carefully at a creek and notice a brown shape on the edge further away. Zooming in we are quite excited it is our first Hamerkop in Tanzania. Hamerkops are quite a weird bird renowned for their enormous nests, several of which are built during the breeding season.
There are also lots of baboon troops here, they are much more relaxed than we have seen in other countries. At least for now. We are more interested in two wildebeests, a mother with a child, that are quite fearless and therefore their antics can be observed for quite some time.
Our plan now is to hit the Hippo Pools or at least see if we can get close to them. It was one of the main attractions in the park but according to our information it might be gone. Or not accessible due to lake increase. We are not sure but would like to check. Of course we have to bird along the way with some nice sightings like our first beautiful Collared Palm-Thrush.
From this side road we can see the Rim on which our lodge lies and even can make out individual buildings. Otherwise there are no other cars which should have given us an indication regarding whether it is open or not throughout.
And nope it is not open. It ends in a marshy area and we do not see any tracks continuing through it so that is where we set camp for a while looking for any birds and mammals in this remote area.
Initial birds are not that special, a Green-backed Camaroptera, not that rare but beautiful and a fork-tailed drongo, really common.
But then the more special birds come in, we are especially in love with a White-browed Coucal that is quite displeased with us and tries to intimidate us with some success.
We then try a different route to the Hippo Pools and that one also ends soon in a marshy area. As such it seems that the Hippo Pools really was flooded and all access roads were closed or are not usable anymore.
This side road we name the road of baboons as there are multiple troops walking on it and then on the side of the road. We barely make it back to the main road as we have to stop and wait for them to cross and pass or just walk in front of us.
Not to be discouraged we take another of the side roads to the end and this one leads to a very scenic view with many dead trees likely killed by the encroaching lake.
We stay here for some time enjoying the views of the lake and even seeing a group of Knob-billed Ducks, the first and only sighting for us in Tanzania.
As all our tries to use the side roads have failed, spectacularly but still failed, so we return to the main road. This is the most popular road but still there are fewer cars than we expected to scare the waterbucks, not that they seem to care anyway.
It seems that most cars are at the only functional picnic area in the park which is relatively high on a hill side. This is because it is lunch time and everyone needs to eat but also because the other picnic areas are now submerged or simply not active anymore. For us it is too full so we move one, back towards the lakeshore.
From here on we are closer to the lakeshore than initially, we are mostly right next to it. And with this we also start to see elephants, lots of them, all of them focused on being close to the water.
Some of them are even in the water and drinking it, we thought it is almost salt water but either the elephants can handle it or we were misinformed.
We stop a few times to look for birds or just to admire them like the Pearl-Spotted Owlet we notice near the road. There are quite a few Bee-Eaters here mostly Little ones, in our opinion.
We try to reach Endala Picnic Site via multiple routes but all of them seem to be closed off, even when we see the picnic site in the distance there are no cars there and there is no clear access route to it.
But there is a herd of Waterbucks in the area and some kingfishers and a few other birds that at least take the sting out of not being able to visit the more famous picnic site on the lake.
We then start to enter the wet part of the tour. This includes a flowing river crossing, not a significantly dangerous crossing except if a truck is coming the other way. Which is what happens to us of course.
The road then follows, for a stretch, the lakeshore with a cliff on the other side which makes it a bad place to meet other cars as we do when we go the other way. Luckily we find a barely there pull over so the other cars can pass in the other direction. This stretch is quite good for birds, unfortunately you simply cannot stay enough to enjoy them.
And then we reach our endpoint. The next river crossing is a long one with no clear indication of depth and we do not want to remain in the wilderness. So here we stop to enjoy the views and look for birds before returning.
Here we see our first Black Heron seemingly hunting an Egret instead of fish. Maybe wanted an upgrade or is just bored, who knows.
We stay here for some time eating some snacks and just enjoying the shade and the beautiful landscape. And the huge Banded Mongoose troop passing right next to our car.
Another special bird we see here is a Woodland Kingfisher. There are few photos of them on iNaturalist in Tanzania and we cannot believe we caught one so randomly but here it is just sitting on its tree.
And then it is time to slowly and carefully start on the way back. We stop quite often looking for bbirds and finding some new species along the way. The Spotted Morning-Thrush, which should be Afternoon-Thrush given the time is a highlight on this stretch.
Green-winged Pytilia is another highlight and a quite beautiful bird. Like the now common to use Gorgeous Sunbird, still fun to see it whenever it stops to visit us.
The elephants have now taken fully to the water and with no other safari cars around we spend some time to observe them and the nearby waterbucks.
We have to be quite careful on this stretch as elephants, huge as they are, can appear suddenly. And of course hitting them would wreck the car and ourselves quite likely. This is true especially near waterways but we keep our eyes out throghout our expedition and luckily have only a few close encounters.
To our surprise as we round a bend we find an elephants sitting together with a giraffe. It is a weird combo especially on a 1 to 1 basis. it doesn’t help that the giraffe seems comically larger, either a giant giraffe or a pygmy elephant.
And then we have a major sighting of a bird we have seen previously but never so close and for so long. It is a pair of Southern Ground Hornbill, huge and scary, just walking towards us. And then the scary looklng bird starts rooting through an elephant dung and the scene becomes funny instead of tense. Very special bird indeed.
As it gets darker and we pass again through the forest near the entrance we are a bit scared, one of the major targets here for us was the Silvery-cheeked Hornbills and none of them were heard and seen. So we drive extra slowly and stop multiple times and in the end are rewarded with two species of rare hornbills. First we see a Crowned Hornbill, a rarity on its own on our trip, and then a pair of Silvery-cheeked Hornbills high up in a tree. Not the best view but still better than nothing. And then we are out, time to return to the lodge for the evening as tomorrow we are continuing on towards Ngorongoro which we will explore with a bird guide that will be picked up in the morning.
