Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park | |
---|---|
City of Arusha, Babati | |
Coordinates | 3°30′S 36°00′E / 3.500°S 36.000°E[1] |
Area | 325 km2 (125 sq mi) |
Established | 1960 |
Visitors | 178,473 (in 2012[2]) |
Governing body | Tanzania National Parks Authority |
Lake Manyara National Park is a protected area in Tanzania's Arusha and Manyara Regions, situated between Lake Manyara and the Great Rift Valley. It is administered by the Tanzania National Parks Authority, and covers an area of 325 km2 (125 sq mi) including about 230 km2 (89 sq mi) lake surface. More than 350 bird species have been observed on the lake.[1]
History
Since the 1920s, Lake Manyara area was used for sports hunting.
Climate
There are two rainy seasons - "short rains" from November to December and the "long rains" from March to May. The wettest month (with the highest rainfall) is April (161 mm (6.3 in) and it also has the highest number of rainy days (19 days). The driest months (with the lowest rainfall) are July, August and September (1 mm (0.039 in). September also has the lowest average number of rainy days (2 days). The warmest months (with the highest average high temperature) are January, February and March, averaging 30 °C (86 °F). Months with the lowest average high temperature are June and July, averaging 25 °C (77 °F).[7] The adjacent highlands tend to be cooler with more rainfall.
Climate data for Lake Manyara | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 30.0 (86.0) |
30.0 (86.0) |
30.0 (86.0) |
27.0 (80.6) |
26.0 (78.8) |
25.0 (77.0) |
25.0 (77.0) |
26.0 (78.8) |
28.0 (82.4) |
29.0 (84.2) |
29.0 (84.2) |
29.0 (84.2) |
27.8 (82.1) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 16.0 (60.8) |
17.0 (62.6) |
17.0 (62.6) |
18.0 (64.4) |
17.0 (62.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
14.0 (57.2) |
15.0 (59.0) |
15.0 (59.0) |
16.0 (60.8) |
17.0 (62.6) |
16.0 (60.8) |
16.1 (61.0) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 60.0 (2.36) |
80.0 (3.15) |
114.0 (4.49) |
161.0 (6.34) |
36.0 (1.42) |
2.0 (0.08) |
1.0 (0.04) |
1.0 (0.04) |
1.0 (0.04) |
16.0 (0.63) |
71.0 (2.80) |
75.0 (2.95) |
618 (24.34) |
Average rainy days | 12.0 | 11.0 | 15.0 | 19.0 | 13.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 12.0 | 14.0 | 113 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 248.0 | 226.0 | 248.0 | 210.0 | 217.0 | 210.0 | 217.0 | 217.0 | 240.0 | 279.0 | 240.0 | 248.0 | 2,800 |
Percent possible sunshine | 67 | 67 | 67 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 67 | 75 | 67 | 67 | 64 |
Average ultraviolet index | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Source: Weather Atlas[7] |
Climate data for Lake Manyara | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily daylight hours | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
Source: Weather Atlas[7] |
Location
Lake Manyara National Park is located 126 km (78 mi) south west of Arusha[8] and can be reached by car in an hour and a half. The park can also be reached from Babati the capital of Manyara Region. Lake Manyara Airport is nearby.[4] To the south, situated on the escarpment above the park, is the 35,399 ha Marang Forest Reserve. To the east is the Kwa Kuchinja Wildlife Migration corridor, which allows wildlife to migrate between the near-by Tarangire National Park to the southeast, Lake Manyara to the west, and the Engaruka Basin to the north. Within the Kwa Kuchinja corridor are several villages.[9] Further from the lake and outside of village land is the 45,000-acre Manyara Ranch,[10] a former livestock ranch, managed by the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust since 2001[10] and an important part of the corridor allowing wildlife movement between Tarangire and Lake Manyara national parks.[10]
Lake Manyara National Park is part of the Lake Manyara Biosphere Reserve. Lake Manyara, including the areas within and outside the national park, along with the Marang Forest Reserve on the adjacent uplands are included in the Lake Manyara Important Bird Area.[5]
Topography
Lake Manyara is a shallow alkaline lake at an altitude of 960 m (3,150 ft), formed in a depression in the Rift Valley System.[1] When full, the lake is a maximum of 10 ft (3.0 m) deep and covers two-thirds of the park. The lake has no outflow, but is fed by underground springs and by several permanent streams that drain surrounding Ngorongoro Highlands. The lake's depth and the area it covers fluctuates significantly. In extreme dry periods the surface area of the lake shrinks as the waters evaporate and at times the lake has dried up completely. In 2010, a bathymetry survey showed the lake to have an average depth 0.81 m (2 ft 8 in), and a maximum depth of about 1.18 m (3 ft 10 in).[11] At its maximum during the wet season, the lake is 40 km (25 mi) wide by 15 km (9.3 mi) with a maximum depth of 3.7 m (12 ft).[12]
Beside the lake are extensive marshlands, saline flats (that expand in the dry season as the surface area of the lake shrinks) and a grassy floodplain. At the area near the park gate there is a tall forest, sustained by groundwater, dominated by evergreen fig and mahogany trees. On the west side of the park, the rocky escarpment of the rift valley wall rises steeply to 1,219–1,829 m (3,999–6,001 ft). Large
Other features include a hippopotamus pool at the northern end of the lake and two hot springs, one near the centre of the park and the other near the southern edge.[3] There is a hot water spring on the western shores of lake Manyara called Maji Moto hot water springs. This 60 °C geothermal feature is formed by underground water that passes through hot volcanic magma rocks of the great rift valley.[citation needed]
Fauna and flora
Vegetation
The flora of Lake Manyara National Park is diverse, with over 670 flowering plant and fern species documented. Most are widespread species; there are few rare or endemic species.[14]
The park has a variety of diverse habitats. Rivers flowing off the escarpment and perennial springs below the rift wall support tall, evergreen groundwater forests dominated by
Woodlands on the western shore of the lake dominated by Acacia and Commiphora species are also supported by groundwater. Trees are spaced irregularly; densest in zones of seepage and along drainage channels. The dominant tree,
Extensive swamps have formed where the Simba River and its tributaries flow into the north end of Lake Manyara
Grasslands are dominated by Cynodon dactylon in dry locations, or by Sporobolus spicatus, often in association with Sporobolus consimilis on the alkaline lake flats. Sporobolus spicatus is dominant on exposed lakebed and can be very extensive during low lake levels, becoming restricted to a narrow zone above the high water mark when lake levels are high. There are extensive areas of Psilolemma jaegeri grasslands outside the park, along the eastern shore of the lake.[13] Vegetation on the escarpment is characterized by Ruellia megachlamys and African baobab trees (Adansonia digitata).[6]
Birds
Lake Manyara National Park is known for flocks of thousands flamingos that feed along the edge of the lake in the wet season. In 1991 there were an estimated 1,900,000 non-breeding
Mammals
Populations of large migratory mammals that are concentrated primarily in Tarangire National Park, but also move through Lake Manyara National Park include
Studies in the 1980s found this to be one of the areas with the highest wildlife biomass in Africa,
Fish
Lake Manyara is the
Butterflies
Over 180 species of butterflies have been documented in the park.[18]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Loth, P. E.; Prins, H. H. T. (1986). "Spatial patterns of the landscape and vegetation of Lake Manyara National Park" (PDF). ITC Journal. 1: 115–130. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
- ^ Sharaf, Yasir (11 April 2017). "The Attractions Of Manyara National Park Tanzania". XPATS International. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Loth, P. E. (1999). The vegetation of Manyara. Scale-dependent states and transitions in the African Rift Valley (Thesis). Tropical Resource Management Papers No. 28. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen University.
- ^ a b World Conservation Monitoring Centre Lake Manyara National Park Archived 2005-11-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e BirdLife International (2019). "Important Bird Areas factsheet: Lake Manyara".
- ^ a b c d "Lake Manyara Biosphere Reserve".
- ^ a b c "Lake Manyara, Tanzania - Monthly weather forecast and Climate data". Weather Atlas. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
- ^ a b "Tanzanian National Parks".
- .
- ^ a b c Sumba, Daudi; Patrick Bergin and Clive Jones (2005). "Land Conservation Trusts : A Case Study of Manyara Ranch, Tanzania". AWF Working Paper Series.
- .
- ^ "Source book for the inland fisheries of Africa vol. 1". FAO.
- ^ JSTOR 2258212.
- ^ Greenway, P. J.; Vesey-FitzGerald, D. F. (1972). "Annotated check-list of plants occurring in Lake Manyara National Park" (PDF). Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum. 28 (130): 1–29.
- ^ "Visit Africa: Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania". visitafrica.site. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
- ^ a b c World Conservation Monitoring Centre. "Lake Manyara National Park".
- .
- ^ Cordeiro, N. J. (1990). "A Provisional, annotated checklist of the butterflies in lake Manyara National Park, Arusha region, Tanzania". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum. 80: 25–41.