Contrasting the intimate forest, the grassy floodplain offers expansive views eastward across the alkaline lake to the jagged blue volcanic peaks rising from the Maasai Steppes. Here, large herds of buffalo, wildebeest, and zebra gather, alongside giraffes, some of which appear black in the distance due to their dark coloration.

Moving inland from the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland serves as the favored habitat for Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Among the acacias, squadrons of banded mongoose dart about, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik forages in the shade. Silhouetted against the rocks above searing hot springs that steam and bubble near the lakeshore in the park’s far south, pairs of klipspringer are often spotted.