Lake Manyara National Park is a protected area located in northern Tanzania. The park is known for its beautiful scenery and diverse wildlife, which includes everything from flamingos and pelicans to elephants and baboons. The park is named after the alkaline lake that occupies a large portion of its area, and which is home to a variety of waterfowl and other bird species. The park is located near the town of Mtowa Mbu, and is a popular destination for safari tourists visiting Tanzania.
After several years of drought, April 2022 brought floods to Manyara. The rain diluted the water enough that it didn’t provide the salinity algae in this land-bound lake need to thrive. This caused a re-location of the huge ‘flamboyance’ of flamingoes for whom algae is a main food. The algae’s high concentration of carotenoids produces the flamingo’s pink color. We saw only small groups, not the thousands Lake Manyara is known for.
Lake Manyara, a place of great wonder
Where flamingoes dance and they flutter
Their feathers a sight
Of pink and bright white
As they strain the salt waters for supper
The flooding also overwhelmed trees on the lake’s borders. Then, the lake waters receded as the drought resumed. There was a massive die-off. It looked as if a forest fire had consumed the edges of the lake hundreds of yards deep.
