Lake Manyara national park lies in a very dramatic setting against the steep western wall of the Rift Valley located 125 km southwest of Arusha town. It is one of Tanzania’s smallest National Parks, with most of its area being covered by the lake. It was established in 1960 having previously been a game reserve, and in 1981 became part of a world Biosphere. It is the place where Dr. Lain Douglas Hamilton did his pioneer studies on the African elephant. Douglas Hamilton’s book ‘Among the Elephants’ is an account of his time in Lake Manyara. At the entrance of the park, there is a prevalent tall forest, sustained by underground water dominated by evergreen forest. The majority of the land area of the park is a narrow strip running between the Great Rift Valley wall escarpment to the west and Lake Manyara, an alkaline or soda –lake to the east. Lake Manyara national park is a beautiful park with its evergreen vegetation and tropical forests of giant fig and mahogany trees. The park is famous for its tree-climbing lions spending most of the day spread out along the branches of sausage trees and acacia. Further on to the Manyara rift valley escarpment the heated volcanic grounds underneath stream out heated water that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore. The park is particularly noted for its huge herds of buffalo and elephants, also giraffes, hippos, reedbucks, warthog, wildebeests, and zebras as well as large troops of baboons and monkeys.