Lake Manyara
Lake Manyara is a lake located in Monduli District of Arusha Region, Tanzania and is the seventh-largest lake of Tanzania by surface area, at 470-square-kilometre (180 sq mi). It is a shallow, alkaline lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the East African Rift. The northwest quadrant of the lake (about 200 sq, km.) is included within Lake Manyara National Park and it is part of the Lake Manyara Biosphere Reserve, established in 1981 by UNESCO as part of its Man and the Biosphere Programme.
| Lake Manyara | |
|---|---|
Overlook of Lake Manyara National Park. | |
Lake Manyara | |
| Location | Monduli District, Arusha Region, Tanzania |
| Coordinates | 3°35′S 35°50′E |
| Lake type | Saline, alkaline, endorheic |
| Primary inflows | Simba River (from the north), Makayuni River (from the east) |
| Max. length | 40 km (25 mi) max |
| Max. width | 15 km (9.3 mi) max |
| Surface area | 181.5 sq mi (470 km2) |
| Max. depth | 3.7 m (12 ft) |
| Surface elevation | 1,045 m (3,428 ft) |
There are differing explanations for how Lake Manyara got its name. The name Manyara may come from the Maasai word "emanyara", which is the spiky, protective enclosure around a family homestead (boma). Possibly the 600 m high rift escarpment hems in the lake, like the enclosure around a Maasai boma. Another theory is that the Mbugwe tribe, who live in the Lake Manyara area, may have given the lake its name based on the Mbugwe word manyero, meaning a trough or place where animals drink water.