Lake Manyara - Safari Day 2

(Sept 6, 2023)

Our second day out on Safari began after a buffet breakfast of pancakes and fruit. We set off to Lake Manyara, which was about a 30 minute drive away. The lake itself is salty so there are not many animals that live within it, however around the edges we saw flamingoes, herons, other water birds and even a herd of zebra.

Right when we entered the park we were greeted by a family of baboons, cleaning each other and hanging out in the shade of the trees, and as we continued through the park, the baboons seemed to be following us everywhere. Then we drove through a forested area where giraffes were munching amongst the trees, and because of their camouflage it was a bit difficult to fully see them but I got some photos through the branches.

As we continued our drive we came across two or three different herds of jungle elephants (which are smaller than the typical African elephant) and amongst one of the herds there was a two week old baby who was constantly being protected and sheltered by its mother and siblings but when we caught glimpses of it he was very small and cute!

Driving around the lake we also saw a python in a tree, digesting his lunch, some bush buck (which is similar to a deer) and a dik dik which is the smallest species of antelope at only 30-40 centimeters tall and weighs about 3-6 kilograms!

We exited the park the way we came in, with more baboons.

That night we stayed at the same lodge as the previous night, overlooking the lake and now getting ready for our journey into the Serengeti the next day.