Entering Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania

One of the most unique lion photos I've ever captured. This was one of the famous tree-climbing lions of Lake Manyara. It is a behavior that is hardly seen anywhere else in the world with lions. To find these, up on a tree, was such a huge surprise for us during our drive through the park to our lodge. It is so unusual to have sky as the background behind a lion, since they are usually on the ground and you are shooting down at it from your vehicle. The late afternoon light lit up the inside of the mouth, bringing out incredible detail of the impressive teeth and rough looking tongue.

After six days of intense wildlife safari action in the African savannah of Masai Mara and the Serengeti, we find ourselves traveling to a new ecosystem. We are switching up the vast plains for the lakeside forest of Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania. Its not just a change in scenery we are after, it is a home for new species of animals. Lake Manyara is well known for its numerous monkey, incredible birds, and of course, the famous tree-climbing lions. But first, we have to say goodbye to our wonderful team at andBeyond's Under Canvas Seregeti Mobile Tent Camp, and our guide, Enoch, and make it to the airstrip in time for our small 12 seater plane to Manyara airport.

It was only fitting that on our way to the airstrip from our camp in the Serengeti, we still came across some wonderful animal encounters. We found close by hyenas, herds of zebra and wildebeest, and even a mating pair of giraffes. You will have to see the photo below to understand that one. We also stopped by the Mara river one more time and saw a whole nursery of young hippos, practicing their fighting.

Our plane ride with Coastal aviation was a smooth one hour flight, over the plains of the central Serengeti, and directly over the famous Ngorongoro Crater. It looked like their lake had flooded over some of the roads, but was otherwise pretty dry. There is a dense forest on the outside of the crater that runs down to Manyara. Here was our destination, where the waters gather in a huge lake, which used to be filled with flamingos...but no more.

Luckily we had gone into this park with very few preconceived notions. I had told Greg and Sue that the animal life isn't as plentiful as where we had been, but we would find different species, great birds, and have a very nice lodge/treehouse to call home for a few nights. On the drive in, our guide Aron,told us that a year and a half ago, the lake water level had risen and covered all the open grassy areas, and entered the forest. It had covered a lot of the roads in the park, and had left a ghost forest, still submerged in the shallow water. The food for the flamingos was no longer available, so the flamingos flew off to Lake Natron and other soda lakes in the rift valley. I watched a very similar thing happen up at Lake Nakuru in Kenya. Some of the forest that was left was being covered, smothered, and killed by a very aggressive plant called wild pumpkin vine. And other parts of the forest were being clear cut to make openings for the grazers to have grasslands again.

So, with all of these changes going on, it could have been a below par experience. But in typical fashion, luck was on our side, and on the drive through the park to our lodge, we saw just about there was to see in terms of star wildlife species. We got crowned eagles and silver cheeked horbill in the same tree. We had loads and loads of Manyara monkeys, vervets, and baboons. We got beautiful kingfishers and even the bird on the cover of the East Africa bird book, the red and yellow barbet. We scored two new antelope species: dik dik, and the rarely photographed red duiker. Then, when we thought it was a strait shot to the lodge, we found the big one...tree climbing lions. There were four lions, high in a tree, lazing about. We were the only car around, so we sat and watched as they slowly started yawning and waking up. Climbing trees is a very rare activity, only witnessed in a few tribes of lions in Africa. And we got a personal, intimate encounter with them.

All of that was bonus. I couldn't have expected such a prolific game drive, especially in such a densely forested area. But what came next, I knew would blow everyone away.

At the far end of the park, lies one of the coolest lodges in this part of Africa. It is called Lake Manyara Tree Tops, and each building is its own treehouse. The way the buildings weave around and through the trees is an architectural work of art. Then in our rooms, we were were shocked to find a hot bubble bath, drawn and ready, to revive us before dinner. It was the icing on the cake. A glass of wine from the minibar, a candle, and a bubble bath, was a decadent way to soak in the memories from the day.

A wonderful dinner, including a homemade naan bread cooking class followed. Then we fell asleep, up in the trees, while bushbabies called to each other all around us. This may have been about as perfect as an afternoon and evening could get here. Just our luck.

After a flight and a long, bumpy game drive, it was with divine pleasure that I crawled into this steaming hot bubble bath that had been drawn up in my treehouse room on arrival. And yes, there may have been a glass of red wine poured as well.

The grey-headed kingfisher strikes a pose. Lake Manyara has great habitats for birds, and you know how much I like birding in Africa!

Two hippos spar in the Mara River.

We had to get a pic with our Serengeti guide, Enoch, before heading off to our next destination.... Lake Manyara National Park.

It was too quick a stay, and sad to say goodbye to our new friends at andBeyond's Under Canvas Serengeti Mobile Tent Camp.... but onwards to Lake Manyara and new African adventures!

This brilliant bird is the cover model for the East Africa Bird Book. This is a red and yellow barbet. Another great find in Lake Manyara!

The silver cheeked hornbill is one of the star birds of the park. We found this one high in a tree shortly after entering the park, and is the only one we found during our stay.

In the same tree as the hornbill above, we found another star bird of the park, a crowned eagle. It turns out that this adult was standing near its nest, which had a baby crowned eagle in it, pictured below!

Here is the baby crowned eagle standing atop a huge nest. I was very pleased to see such rare birds so quickly upon entering the park.

A slightly different subspecies of the blue monkey, known here at the Manyara monkey, sits by the roadside, peering intently at us.

Mating giraffes. He was not successful, as the smaller female kept thwarting his attempts, but it sure was entertaining to watch.

Another action shot of the tree climbing lions.

While there aren't the same number of animals, or big herds, that we found in the Masai Mara and the Serengeti, it is interesting to see a different environment. This elephant encounter felt so different as it moved through the trees of Lake Manyara National Park.

The youngest member of this tree climbing lion pride here in Lake Manyara. Due to a lot of changes in the park, including the water level rising and taking away a lot of the habitat, these lions are having a difficult time. We have our fingers crossed for their survival, but feel very lucky to have seen them now.

There are lots of monkeys and baboons in Lake Manyara. We had so much fun watching the troops move through the forest, especially the young ones.

We can add slender tail mongoose to our list after this encounter. Here he is performing his best meerkat impersonation.

Because we hadn't spent much time in wooded, bushy environments, this was our first chance to see this tiny antelope species, called dik-diks.

Another small antelope, called the red duiker, is a more secretive resident of the park. We were very lucky to spot this while driving fast, stop, back up, and have it pose for a few moments before disappearing into the forest.

Sleepy lions in a tree. This is a Lake Manyara specialty.

There just aren't that many places in the world to see something like this, a pride of lions way up in a tree. Lake Manyara is well known for this lion behavior, however it is becoming increasingly harder to find these days.

We drove from one end of the park to the other. The roads are definitely bumpy, rough, and slow in places, and the conditions of the forest is in decline, however, finishing at this spot, Lake Manyara Tree Top Lodge, makes everything worth it. It is a magnificent tree house where you fall asleep to the sounds of bushbaby's crawling across your roof.

We took a small bush plane from Kogatende in the Serengeti to Manyara, which flew right over Ngorongoro Crater, pictured here.

My front row seat made me feel like I was in the cockpit. I thought it was fun seeing Ngorongoro crater on the screen.

What a place to end up after a long travel day.

Entering Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania, home to the tree climbing lions.

The lake unexpectedly rose about a year and a half ago, flooding the open plains and entering the forest. Now there is a submerged ghost forest and no open savanna left. A lot of the bigger herds of grazers were forced to move around the lake towards Tarangire National Park, or revert to living and hiding in the forest.

Sue and Greg, ready to fly to our next spot!

There were several bigger sand rivers to cross on our drive through the park. It was great seeing these Land Cruisers put to the test!

The outdoor dining area at Lake Manyara Tree Tops comes alive at mealtimes with chef's cooking in real time, giving you a first hand look at their methods. They used these big barrels for cooking homemade nan bread to slow roasting our pork dinner.

Our meet and greet at the Lake Manyara aistrip.

At Kogotende airstrip in the Serengeti, there is a fun, skeleton guessing game near the runway.

Funny addition to a termite mound near the picnic area in Lake Manyara.

Greg, pulling a vertaren safari move while spotting some rare bird species high up in a Lake Manyara tree top.

As always, keep traveling!

• Dai Mar